God Shuffled His Feet
by BKain390822
Summary: Buffy wakes up aboard the Raza as a member of its crew. Just like everyone else she has no memories of her life before waking up.
1. Who Are You

Author: Bastille Kain

Title: God Shuffled His Feet

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters of any show or other medium; comics, movies, and books that are unfortunate enough to be used here all belong to other people. Again I own nothing and make no profit from these writings.

Spoilers: Anything and everything.

Summary: Buffy/Dark Matter Crossover. It is long and complex. The short of it is Buffy wakes up aboard the Raza as a member of its crew. Just like everyone else she has no memories of her life before waking up.

Pairings:

Rating: MA-18. Just to play it safe. Eventually there is going to be adult themed subject matter, gratuitous violence and explicit sexual scenes not to mention strong language.

Feedback: Is always appreciated.

Archive: If you like it that much, sure. Just be sure to let me know where it's going, and give me the credit, good or bad, for my work.

Musical Note: I like to use song titles or lyrics for story names and chapter titles. God Shuffled His Feet: The Crash Test Dummies. Who Are You: The Who. Mad World: Tears For Fear (Covered by Gary Jules)

Author Note: Not a big fan of author notes.

Enjoy the Story,

Kain

God Shuffled His Feet

Chapter One: Who Are You

She came to with a start, darkness overwhelmed her… Paralyzing her from somewhere deep down as she sucked in as much oxygen as her lungs could hold. Green eyes snapped open with an animalized frenzy burning within them; a group of strangers were huddled together on the other side of a plexi-steel door. They stared at her with range of emotions from concerned to anxious to something that bordered on curious hostility.

With a hard shove the door opened and she fell forward, dropping to her hands and knees. One of the men moved forward, maybe to help. Maybe for some other reason… Maybe? Dozens of ways to stop him, stop them all flashed through her head.

He stepped back quickly enough as she heaved, emptying the contents of her stomach on the floor. Not the method she would have preferred given a choice but apparently effective all the same.

"The hell…?" One of the men growled, whether in anger or simple annoyance she couldn't tell.

"Sick," she mumbled almost too softly to be heard. "Phobic…"

"You remember who you are?" The older, dark haired woman asked, a hint of cautious relief tinting her voice.

Images flashed through her mind. Scattered and disjointed; hundreds of faces, random with no context. "No," she murmured as a tall black man with a shaved head offered her his hand. She took it gratefully and he helped her to her feet. "Nothing."

"Another one," The angry man grumbled. "Makes eight of us."

/ / /

Several minutes later the small group was in one of the ship's cargo hold. This one held a series of lockers that appeared to housing some of the crew's personal effects. "No one?" She asked taking in the group. They were an odd assortment including two teenagers. The boy had a bandage around his abdomen from what had probably been a serious gunshot wound and the girl had green streaks dyed in her black hair. It was eclectic to say the least and struck a chord, reminding her of something, someone… It was there and gone the moment she reached for it, like a wisp of smoke.

"We all woke up the same as you," a black haired man said. He was more pretty than handsome and tall, but her perspective might be a little skewed on the subject. What she wouldn't give for a pair of boots; preferably platform and stylish, something that would bring out the green tint in her eyes. Make them pop. He was a talker, probably wouldn't be much good in a fight. "With no memories…"

"I have some," she said and learnt something else about herself. She so did not like being the center of attention. "Memory might be too strong of a word. Disjointed vid images without sound, out of sequence and no sort of context…"

A loud bang erupted as the angry man slammed a steel pipe into a metal lock with a simmering, "That's just peachy." He hit the lock repeatedly.

She flinched with every hit, her hands covering her ears as she slid off the crate and stumbled out the door and into the hall.

"Is she okay?" The sandy hair boy asked, concern etching his voice.

"Yeah," The black man answered. He looked to the other adults and said, "She might have hyper acute senses."

The other woman nodded as a thought popped into her head. "Which would explain her reaction coming out of stasis. Until she's had a chance to acclimate to the environment."

"I'll go track her down," the black man said.

"For right now we should probably name ourselves by the order we woke up," The black hair man suggested. "One, Two," he said pointing to himself then the woman then to the angry man, "Three, Four," as he gestured toward the Asian man.

"Five," the girl said before looking toward the equally young boy as she said, "and that would make you Seven."

"So that means I'm Six," Six said.

"And the blonde is Eight," Two said

"Got it," Six said with a nod.

"Here," Two said holding out a pair of comms.

"Do you want some company?" Seven asked.

Six looked the boy up and down as he slipped the small comm into his ear. "Until we get the ship secured you probably shouldn't be doing a lot of wondering around," he told the boy before exited the room and heading in the same direction the blonde went, carrying a heavy coat and a pair of boots.

"Ah-ha," Three crowed triumphantly as he tossed the steel pole aside. He flipped the lid open as the others gathered around.

"What are we hauling?" One questioned. "Seeds? Medicine?"

Three flipped back the plastic sheet and with an eerily reverent quality he said, "Better," as he removed a large rifle from the crate.

"Cool," Five said as she darted in and grabbed a pistol.

Quick as she was Two was right behind her taking the weapon from the girl with a firm, "No." She turned towards the three men. "We need to search and secure this ship, find anything of value. One and Four, you two are together. Three, why don't you corral Six and Eight. Make sure you bring enough toys for everyone. Five, Seven… You two are with me."

/ / /

Six caught up to Eight quick enough. She was inside another cargo hold a hundred meters further down the hall. It wasn't as large but most of the containers appeared to be specialized. She placed her palm on an electric pad and the container opened revealing nothing but footwear, hundreds of pairs of shoes in every possible variety. The girl's face brightened considerably as she whispered, "Oh." She reached inside and removed a pair of platform sandals more suited to one of the core worlds then the deck of a deep space vessel. They were ivory white and encrusted with a tasteful assortment of crystalline gemstones. He was about to comment on how inappropriate they would be aboard ship when she slipped them back into their proper place with a whispered promise of, "Later," before she removed a sturdier pair of black combat boots. She pressed the pad again and the container began closing as Eight moved onto the next container and repeating the process. It began to open just as slowly as the first one and she said, "Eh, what's up Doc?" with an odd accent.

"We decided to name ourselves by the order we woke up," Six informed her.

The second container finished opening revealing a large selection of pants, shirts, blouses and undergarments. She tilted her head as she extracted a pair of deep violet leather pants, a scarlet microfiber top that wasn't much different from the top she was currently wearing aside from the color, a deep ocean blue button-down blouse and a worn black leather long coat. "Pretty Boy's idea?" Not so much a question, but rather a statement just awaiting confirmation. She repeated the process with a third crate and Six had to wonder how much more stuff Eight had.

"How could you…?"

"Be careful with him," she warned. Her face brightened and she breathed out an awed, "Pretty," before recovering. Held within the container was a vast array of bladed weapons, maybe enough to supply a small army.

"Why shouldn't I trust him?" He asked instead of giving voice to the other questions running through his head at the moment.

"He's an idealist," she told him as she began stripping out of her clothes. He felt his face flush as his eyes soaked in her flawless skin. "He finds something to believe in and he believes," she said as she shimmied into her leather pants. "He'll get himself killed, or more likely someone else." She slipped the shirt on. "Two, she's hard and closed off… Shoves all her hurts deep down and buries them. She'll kill you where you stand but she needs a reason, a good one." She removed several harness from her weapons and secured them without giving any thought to their placement. "Five and Seven," She began sheathing knives, daggers, throwing stars, needles and a pair of small well balanced hatchets in her holsters. "They'll lift your wallet and pocket the cash before you're three steps in the rearview. Good kids though." She slipped her blouse on but let it hang loose. "Four," she gave a bit of a shrug as she settled into the long coat, "he's had training, lots of it. You can see it in the way he moves. He's dangerous but you already knew that."

Three strolled through the open doorway as if he had every right to be there. A powerful looking long rifle was slung over his right shoulder while a pistol was holstered on each hip. A number of holstered pistols were slung over his other shoulder and a smaller shotgun style rifle and a small caliber automatic rifle were slung on his back. He smirk at Eight and said, "I would've brought you something short stuff but Two said the little ones couldn't play with the big boy toys," as he passed several pistols and the shotgun over to Six.

Eight smiled at the humor as she went over to the final container and opened it as she had all the others. Three let out a soft whistle as the container opened and he stepped forward to take closer gander at the merchandise contained within. "Now those look expensive," Three said taking in what had to be hundreds of leather bound books. He handed her a pair of pistols and the automatic rifle. In one of the other sections were thousands of VidDisk while the center section contain several hundred memory cards of various ages some of which had to be hundreds of years old. Possibly even older. "Someone's private collection, no doubt?" There was more than a hint of lurid innuendo in his comment.

"If someone's a good boy," Eight returned the playful banter. She belted on the holsters, checked to make sure the draw was smooth or if she was going to have to modify them. The pistols came out easily enough but they could definitely use some adjustments. Lifting the rifle she thumbed through the settings until it was set for single shot. "You two ready?" She asked.

"Just waiting on you princess," Three told her. Eight cocked an eyebrow. "Alright then," he said heading for the door.

/ / /

"All I'm saying is we don't know how long we're going to be stuck here," Three said as the trio marched along, their rifles held casually with the barrels aimed at the floor. Another bulk-head door opened at their presence. "Kind of makes sense for us to choose a leader. Somebody to make key decisions for the group."

There was a bit of idle amusement in Six's tone as he said, "Let me guess… Someone like you?"

Three didn't hear it, or chose to ignore it, too busy running his election campaign. "Naw… Not me, necessarily. But yeah, someone to represent everyone's best interest. Someone with final say in case of disputes. I don't know? It could be me," Three went on persistently. "Is that what you're suggesting?"

"No," Six hedged.

"If that was the case, just between us… I could use a good second in command."

"I'm voting for Five," Eight chimed in unable to hide the playful smirk that danced in her eyes as Three shot her mildly menacing glare she pretended not to see.

Six came up to another door; this one remained close as they approached. Six hit the pad and the door swung upward. Three followed Six as he stepped forward. Eight hung back devoting the majority of her attention to covering the corridor. The lights flickered for a second before coming on to reveal the hold of a small transport shuttle and the cockpit beyond. Six's face lit up, almost to the point of glowing. "Now this is more like it," he said securing his rifle in the corner by the pilot's seat. "I wonder if I know how to fly this?"

"Knock yourself out," Three said with a touch of amusement coloring his voice. He exited the shuttle and said, "This way," with a gesture of his long rifle.

Eight shrugged, glance at the shuttle Six was in. "Why don't we split up, be able to cover more ground that way?"

"Suit Yourself."

"If you run into trouble…"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be sure to give a shout," he said with a backwards wave in her direction as he sauntered down the corridor away from her.

Eight headed back to the last junction and picked an unsearched corridor at random. She kept her focus on the task at hand putting aside the questions nagging at her mind until the ship had been secured. For the next several minutes she picked corridors seemingly at random entering each and every room making sure they were empty before exiting and securing the room to ensure no one could double back around on her.

She was only a few minutes into her search when Three called out to her and Six that he had found something. A few seconds later she heard a cry for help and then a crash and a grunt of pain. Eight raced forward concerned that Three, for all of his bluster, had run into something he couldn't handle.

/ / /

Six barely managed to block the pipe with a piece of grating but that was quickly knocked from his hands by the attack. The blonde android easily hauled him to his feet with her left hand, her right hand cocked back to strike but a tiny fist wrapped around her forearm and Eight pulled her around. The Android had a good three to four inches on Eight, but the tiny blonde moved in delivering a hard punch to the Android's chest that drove the machine back nearly two feet. Six blinked, momentarily thrown off by the result. He recovered quickly and wrapped his arms around the Android's chest in a solid bear-hug that the Android shrugged off with ease and her follow up elbow to his face dropped him to a knee. A solid punch from Eight to the side of her head caused the Android to take a step away from him. She retaliated quickly launching a series of punches and kicks at Eight which the tiny blonde either deftly deflected or absorbed with no apparent effect.

One raced in from one of the side passages slamming a heavy pipe wrench into the side of the Android's head. The Android went with the blow as her right hand shoved One the length of the hold. He crashed into the far wall with a bone jarring impact.

Four came at her, his sword whistling as it cut the air. Fast as he was the Android was faster easily evading his attacks until he was over extended and she moved in, quickly disarming him. She reached for his throat but Eight caught the Android's wrist with her right hand and drove her left fist into the small of the Android's back. She followed it up with two more punches that were equally ineffective. The Android spun pulling Eight around and launching her toward the second floor catwalk.

Eight caught the steel railing, pulled herself around and landed in a crouch on the rail. She gathered herself, preparing to launch another attack but the machine's eyes went blank and the Android shut down. Below her the men took a moment to gather themselves.

/ / /

Two glanced at Five and Seven, the two youngest members of their crew, as she ran a scan on the Android. They were sitting on one of the tables in the infirmary talking quietly with each other. Six was standing nearby, he had seemed to take to the youngsters and they to him. Though once Seven learned Four had swords and could fight like some sort of ninja kung-fu warrior he had made no secret about wanting to ask Four to teach him how to fight.

Eight was there as well, casually lounging against the far wall watching the Android. Well the blonde was watching everything, her eyes constantly moving, never resting on one place for any length of time. According to the others Eight had held her own against the Android. It shouldn't have been possible and yet she had four witnesses, well three witnesses since Three had spent most of the fight unconscious. Eight claimed it was their interference that kept her from winning.

The tiny blonde's gaze shifted to the door and two seconds later it swung up allowing One, Three and Four to enter the infirmary. "Guys we found food. Who wants?" Three asked as he entered. Six held up a hand and caught the protein pack. One followed close behind an ice pack pressed to his jaw. Four entered last carrying a steel box. "Kid," he says tossing a pair to Five who took one and handed the other to Seven. He didn't even look in Eight's direction as he settled his rifle on a second bed. One tossed Eight a protein pack which earned him a glare from Three that he ignored.

Six tore open his pack as Four placed the box on a small work station. Six bit off a chunk and made a gagging sort of sound with an expression that closely matched it. "Are you sure?"

"Close enough," Three answered.

"I've had worse," Seven said as he swallowed the small piece he'd taken. Six glanced at him and Seven shrugged in a, you know what I mean, sort of way.

Three ignored the boy as he asked, "What's up with the robot?"

Two glanced at him. "Technically she's an Android. Her bio-synthetic physiology is incredibly similar to our ship's outer hull," she explained to the group.

"Fascinating," Three replied. Sarcasm dripped from his words.

"She's an extremely efficient entity," Two continued as she leaned over the bed. "Corrector nannites have almost fully restored her broken parts." Which was another concern. If Eight could punch the Android hard enough to cause damage Two didn't want to think about what she would be capable of doing to a human body without much effort.

Three offered up an indifferent shrug as he said, "Well that's not a problem. We just stick her in the airlock and space her."

"That won't be necessary," Two said as Three turned toward his rifle. He turned back, a look of stunned wonder etched on his face as Two continued speaking. "I've already deleted all of her security directives and re-established her base program. She's no longer a threat to us and she could prove useful."

"Whoa," One jumped in. "We're not waking that thing up!"

Two turned, a bit of anger lacing her stance. Her gaze took in the group as she said, "The diagnostics suggest she possesses some sort of neural link with the ship's mainframe. Once she's back online she'll be able to run a more effective repair command. She'll have us space worthy in no time."

"Will she know who we are?" Eight asked stepping closer to the group that she has spent the last hour holding herself back from; ever since her fight with the Android.

Two glanced at the blonde took in her green eyes staring down at the Android. There was concern within them, it was masked over but it was there. "She might," Two said. Her voice was softer, a bit of compassion in her tone. "I don't know. Resetting her program may have wiped her data files on us, but she'll be able to access the ships logs far quicker than any of us."

Eight lifted her head and took in the group. For a moment anybody looking at her could see a frightened girl that didn't want to know the truth. Then her features hardened; a challenge for anyone to question her. "Do it," she said. "Wake her up."

One drew his sidearm and Four his sword. Six shrugged as he readied his own weapon. Three huffed angrily but finally drew his own pistol. Two stepped forward, tilted the Android's head to the side and inserted the boot disk into the port. Within seconds the Android's eyes flooded with simulated life.

"What's your name," One demanded.

"I possess no personal designation," the Android replied.

"Yeah, there's a lot of that going around," Six commented dryly.

"Why did you attack us?" One questioned her.

"I have no memories of such an attack," the Android responded quickly.

Two exhaled softly as she said, "The reboot must have wiped her data stores."

"Well ain't that convenient," Three griped.

Without warning the Android sat up. It was fluid and graceful, faster than anyone could react to for nearly a half a second when they flinched back. Five slid off the table moving closer to the Android while Seven made sure Six was between him and the Android. Only Eight didn't react to the Android. Two moved to the foot of the bed putting herself in the Android's direct line of sight. "I want you to initiate a neural link with the ship's computer. Can you do that?"

"Of course," the Android replied with no emotion or inflection.

"Now I want you to access any and all data related to the passengers on board this ship?"

The Android closed her eyes for a second, maybe two before reopening them. "No such data exist," the Android informed them.

"Any information in the ship's records about its crew? Or its mission?" One demanded.

Once again the Android closed its eyes. "No such data exist," the machine answered after opening her eyes.

"How's that possible?" Six asked.

"It's… It's not," Two fumbled for moment. "This ship's programming is highly sophisticated. There are redundancies in place to guard against data loss. Someone must have deliberately deleted that information."

/ / /

Eight found her room without much difficulty, there were a number of swords mounted on the wall, almost two dozen books on a shelf over the bed and an array of musical instruments secured in individual stands; a violin and cello, a set of drums and a keyboard, an assortment of flutes, and several guitars; from acoustics, a solid body electric along with hallowed body, one that was even set up to be played left handed; along with a pair of bass guitars. Moving the rest of her belongings into the room wouldn't be particularly difficult considering the antigrav sled she had spotted earlier.

Suddenly the engines came online and the ship accelerated rapidly. It wasn't long before the gravity cut out and she drifted up to the ceiling. She quickly flipped herself over several times before the gravity came back on and she dropped to the floor, landing softly on her feet.

/ / /

Five came-to slowly. The world was dark and her head hurt. As she opened her eyes she picked out Two and Six standing on one side of her and Seven on the other side holding onto her hand. Eight was leaning against the wall, as far from the rest of the group as she could get and still be in the same area.

"Hey," Six said gently.

"What, what happened?" she asked concerned that she couldn't remember.

"We lost gravity for a few seconds there," Six explained. "When it came back on we all took a tumble. You hit your head on the way down."

Five frowned, squinting slightly as she tried to remember hitting her head but simply drew a blank. The floating and the falling were there but not hitting her head. "I did?" She asked.

"Yeah," Six said as she started to sit up. He kept a large hand on her back offering her support as she used Seven to pull herself upright. "You okay?" Six asked as a slight groan escapes her.

"Yeah, I think so," Five answered.

"So any idea who attacked us, or why?" One asked as Three followed him into the infirmary. Neither appeared to be particularly happy but it was unclear if it was because of the attack, their general disposition or because they were spending too much quality time alone with each other.

"None," Two answered.

Three crossed the infirmary as he said, "Maybe the robot had something to do with it." He brushed against her back in a not overly subtle passive aggressive gesture.

"I have no intention of harming anyone on this ship," the Android replied in a flat tone; neither defensive nor aggressive. A simple statement of facts.

"Oh yeah, except for the part where you tried to kill us all," Three countered. All trace of passivity vanished from his posture. "Except for the pint size princess over there," he added with a frown. No ordinary human could fight an android and hope to hold their own, let alone win. Whatever Eight was, ordinary wasn't on the list.

"I have no memory of such an attack," the Android answered remaining unflustered.

"So you keep saying –"

"Alright," Six started. "Calm down."

"Are you kidding me now?" Three griped, shooting them all a smoldering glare. "I wake up a couple hours ago, no idea who I am, how the hell I got here. Nearly get killed by the forgetful robot, almost blasted into scrag by some mysterious ship –"

"We're in the middle of nowhere," Eight cut into Three's rant. "Broadcasting a distress beacon. Honest merchants are going to steer clear thinking it's a trap. The undesirables are gonna come in weapons hot looking for an easy score. We're just lucky nobody showed up earlier."

"Actually we are on course to a nearby inhabited world," the Android informed the group.

"We are?" Two murmured softly.

"Before we were attack I initiated a recovery program in order to salvage recently deleted or overwritten data," the Android explained in the same tone of voice.

"You can do that?" One asked.

"The process is time consuming and most of the information is irretrievable, however I have managed to salvage some data," the Android informs the crew.

"What kind of data?" Three asked in what just might be his only non-aggravating tone.

"The ships original destination," the Android answered with an almost smirk like quality to her voice. "We should be arriving in less than twelve hours."

Eight frowned as the Android's explanation jarred something from the recesses of her mind. A process or technique the authorities used to track people. "What about facial recognition? Even DNA profiling?"

"Can you do that?" Five asked.

"Of course," the Android answered. "Though travelling in FTL severely limits my connection to the interlink. Being docked at a Hab-1 Space Station would give this ship its greatest access," she informed the crew. "I could begin a DNA analysis right now if no one has any objection. Once we reach a suitable destination it would be ready for uploading."

Two nodded as she rolled up her sleeve, "Let's get this over with."

/ / /

Eight was restless. She tried to sleep, but an hour of tossing and turning had shown her the futility of her actions. Meditating was equally useless, if for an entirely different reason. Seeing her death at the hands of some hideous monster, being left to drown in a shallow pool of bloody water wasn't an experience she wanted to repeat.

Neither was driving a sword through the heart of the man you loved, and she knew; once upon a time she had loved the beautiful dark haired man with the soul wrenching eyes. Knew it in the ache along her bones, the acid burning in her veins. Knew it in how her heart shattered as she drove her sword home even if she couldn't recall one thing more. Not even the flicker of a name. He had been her angel and still she had plunged her sword through his heart and killed him and it couldn't have been more than five years ago when she would have been about the same age Five is now.

What sort of person did that make her?

Then again, her fight with Andi drove home the fact she wasn't an ordinary girl. May not even be completely human?

Entering the gym she set up the wooden man. She could have pulverized it with a single punch but this was about focus, concentration, re-centering herself. If somebody ever killed her again they were going to have to earn that honor.

/ / /

"We tried communicating with whoever's down there," Eight heard Two say as she approached the shuttle. "But received no response."

"Could be a tech issue," One offered.

"Could be a lot of things," Two replied with her normal pragmatic view. Eight entered the cargo hold of the shuttle and Two shot her a glance. Like the others she was armed; her rifle slung over a shoulder far too delicate for such a weapon, a pair of pistols holstered low on her hips, along with a vast array of throwing knives and other well concealed blades. Two was only mildly surprised to see the other woman there despite the last time they talked, Eight hadn't been all that keen on going planet-side in the shuttle. Unlike Seven, who was itching for any excuse to go on an excursion but the boy was still recovering from a serious gunshot wound. It would still be a few weeks before he was fit for anything but light duty.

Eight flashed Two a whimsical smile. "Decided I needed to get off this boat for a bit. Fresh air just might do me some good. Besides somebody needs to keep this lot from doing something, foolish?"

Two repressed an urge to snort as she said, "And that's you?"

"No," Eight said. "That's Andi's job." Two frowned as she tried to make a connection. "I'm not going to keep calling her the Android. Just because none of us have real names doesn't mean she can't have one and until she chooses one for herself, I'm going with Andi."

"Probably stayed up all night thinking that one up," Three commented dryly as he reached for his sonic rifle.

Eight smiled at him with just a hint of playful cruelty sparkling in her green eyes. In a voice just hinting at sultry seductiveness she said, "The things I did that kept me awake last night," she breathed in deeply as if savoring a slice of nirvanic bliss before finishing, "would have left you in traction."

Three swallowed trying to work moisture back into his suddenly dry mouth. He quickly shot a pleading look at Two. "Make her stop," he all but whined.

Two smirked at him. "If you can't stand the heat… You should probably stay out of the oven." She turned back to Eight and said, "Just until she comes up with something she like's better."

Eight shrugged, "It's her name it should be something she likes," she finished as she took the last seat in the back of the shuttle.

Two gave her a slight nod. Turning to leave she said, "Fly safe," as she walked out of the shuttle.

Three, One, and Six shifted in their seats to watch Two walk away earning a green eye glare from Eight as she muttered, "You've got to be kidding me."

They turned back as the outer doors closed forming an airtight seal. Six looked over at the Android and asked, "Does this ship have a name?"

"It's a Phantom class Marauder," the Android told him.

"Marauder," Six repeated, tasting the name on his tongue. A definite note of approval shining through as he said, "Nice."

The shuttle dropped out of its docking berth. Eight felt her stomach lurch with the sudden changes as the shuttled accelerated toward the planet.

Three noticed her complexion, the downcast turn of her lips. "This bucket doesn't come with little bags for you to –"

"Actually," the Android began cutting in. "Located under each seat there are a pair of bags for just such emergencies."

"Whatever," Three glared as he adjusted the settings on his rifle. "I don't want to smell it."

"There is no reason to assume the inhabitants will be hostile," the Android commented idly.

Three sighted along the barrel. "No reason to assume they won't be," he countered.

The shuttle came in low and fast, landing just beyond the nearest ridge, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. Eight stood, slinging her automatic rifle over her right shoulder as she shoved her semi queasy stomach aside. "Give me two minutes to work my way around the back and find a decent vantage point to cover you guys," she ordered the group as they stood and began readying their own weapons.

"Why the hell would we do that?" Three demanded.

Eight's withering eyes were nearly enough to make him step back but he managed to hold his ground. "There's a reason you shouldn't be in charge," she said just loudly enough for everyone to hear. "What if you're right? Natives ain't so welcoming to armed strangers showing up unannounced on their doorstep. Do you think it's all that smart for us to parade march into a potential ambush?"

One glanced around at the others quickly before asking, "Shouldn't one of us go with you?"

"No offense Pretty Boy," Eight began with a smirk. "But I'd rather not be noticed when I'm being all sneaky," she finished stepping out of the shuttle.

"One of us should –" One started.

"She's right," Four cut him off. "The only one of us capable of matching her is the Android. The rest of us would only slow her down."

"Four's right," Six said. "We all saw her hold her own against the Android."

"I do not recall seeing that," the Android told her companions.

Six turned his attention to the Android explaining, "It happened before we rebooted your system."

"I don't like it," Three told the others. "For all any of us know she could be in there selling us out right now."

/ / /

The factory was old, rundown. The interior was cluttered with disused refuse; an old forklift was partially covered with a heavy burlap blanket near the buildings double wide loading doors. There were stacks of pallets, mostly constructed of wooden planks but a few were made of steel. They were stacked in such a way as to create several narrow, twisting alleys, ideal for setting an ambush and providing cover, which the locals were using quite liberally. While it was simple, overall it was an excellent strategy and Eight found herself approving. All they needed were better quality weapons. Something with a heavier kick then the small arms they were currently deployed with might give someone a rather rude awakening.

They had also managed to jury rig some sort of localized jammer that severely hampered personal comms, effectively cutting her off from the rest of her group. Without some sort of booster nobody was getting a signal out.

Sitting on the roof she waited for the other members of her crew to put in an appearance. She had her right foot tucked under her left buttocks, her left leg bent and her left elbow resting on her knee. She gazed at the back of someone's head along her rifles hard sight through one of the various holes in the roof. Without too much effort she could kill six maybe seven more before the first body hit the floor.

"Remember," One said as the four of them cautiously marched up the center of the factory. Hard eyes seeking out the little nooks and crevices where an enemy might be lying and wait, they never rested on any one spot for too long. "We're just looking for answers. We're not here to cause trouble."

"That's far enough," an older man said as he and about ten others stepped out from the cover they had been sheltering behind.

Eight grimaced and was sorely tempted to shoot the man just on general principle. It was too soon by at least fifteen feet. With their superior weapons the distance favored her team. Even though the locals had the four men surrounded at least half the civilians would be cut down in the first exchange. Holding the rifle steady with one arm she slipped a pistol from its holster and lined up a second target through another hole in the roof. It wouldn't be as accurate as the rifle which was why she was aiming for a larger surface area then the skull. A shot anywhere along the spine would serve just as well as a kill shot.

"Remind me to tell that robot I told you so," Three mumbled to anyone willing to listen.

Eight swallowed her amusement. Trust Three to make the most inappropriate comment at the absolute wrong time.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" The old man demanded.

"Yeah," One drawled out slowly, more of a murmur just for himself. "I was afraid those questions might come up."

A young girl in her early twenties with straight hair past her shoulders spoke in a clear voice saying, "They're not corporate guard. They might be Hrothgar's people?"

The old man, their leader Eight assumed, seemed to trust her council as he asked, "Did Hrothgar send you?"

Six made eye contact with the Leader briefly as he said, "Maybe."

"We didn't come here to hurt anyone," One said trying to play the peacemaker which Eight assumed would have a better than average chance of working with a bunch of people that didn't want to get caught in the middle of a shootout with well armed strangers. "Or get hurt," he added.

"Specially that last part," Six added.

One went a step further as he slowly began lowering his pistol. "Why don't we all just lower our weapons?"

Three squeezed his eye shut as if in the middle of some bad movie he couldn't wake up from. Even Six forgot himself enough to focus his attention on One and ignore the threat around him. The old man relaxed his stance, his own rifle dropping to his side, most of the locals following suit, as did Four and Six. "All of us," One added with a bit of command touching his normally hesitant tone. Three huffed but finally lowered his rifle.

Eight watched from her vantage point as the locals lead them out of the factory and deeper into the town. She debated with herself on the merits of following but finally decided against it. They were big boys and could handle things themselves for the most part. Besides if one of the locals actually did manage to catch her spying it might jeopardize the mission. Not that they could catch her.

/ / /

Three entered the Marauder first carrying a wooden crate full of vegetables. His light colored eyes smoldering with dark suspicion. He looked Eight over as the blonde lounged in the last chair, her feet just barely resting on the seat across the aisle blocking anyone from moving farther into the shuttle without disturbing her. He set his crate down in the cargo hold before turning and bringing Eight into his direct line of sight. "Just where the hell were you?" He demanded as Four followed him onto the shuttle, also carrying several crates similar to the one he had already set aside.

Eight didn't even bother to open her eyes as she said, "You guys appeared to have everything well in hand. Besides, what did you want me to do… Announce my presence to the locals by putting a round in the back of their leader's skull?"

"Like you were even there," Three countered.

"She was there," Four told him. "On the roof. The same position I would have attempted to secure."

Three responded with grunt of, "Right."

Eight opened her eyes matching Three's gaze. "Don't forget to give Andi the old I told you so spiel."

Four gave an amused snort as Six followed him onto the shuttle and set his crate down. "What's going on?" He inquired sensing the tension. Not that things weren't always a little tense with this group.

"Three doesn't believe Eight had our back," Four answered.

"She was there," Six said. "On the roof." He shrugged adding, "Figured she didn't want to spook the residents once we had things in hand. What they don't know… Right?"

One brought up the rear, setting his crate down, his posture brimming over with pent up aggravation. "This isn't right," he announced causing the others to face him. "Am I the only person who heard what they said? A shipment of arms? Obviously we were meant to help these people."

Three began to punch in the code to close the shuttle's doors. "You don't know that," he said.

"And the fact we have a cargo hold full of weapons… That's a coincidence?" He asked as if the answer should be as simple for everyone else to see as it was him.

"You're forgetting one important detail," Three begins in a mildly ominous tone. "The scary Lizard people that are on their way to this planet to destroy everything. Guessing you don't want to be here when they show up?"

Eight felt herself perk up, as if some long buried piece inside her core had been awakened. She was about to ask what was going on when she noticed Four's small hand gesture. He would explain things to her later, probably once they were back aboard the ship.

"Okay," One hedged slightly seeming to climb a rung or two down from his soap box. "I'll admit that part sounded bad."

"Alright," Six jumped in. "Let's table this discussions 'till we're back on the ship alright?"

/ / /

The Android, or Andi as Eight insisted on calling her, looked pensive as she stood just on the outside of the doorway leading into Two's quarters. It was an odd expression to see on her face. Andi and the others had only just returned from the planet with maybe a week's worth of provisions… If they were carefully managed. The others, One specifically, wanted a meeting to discuss their next move. "Something I can help you with?"

"Highly unlikely," she answered with an honesty only a machine could achieve.

Two graced her with a tiny smile deciding to rephrase the question. "What are you doing here?"

"On the planet, Eight requested that I disclose any anomalous results concerning the crews DNA profiles to you," the Android explained.

A slight frown creased Two's brow. "Do the others know?"

"Unlikely," the Android answered. "Eight returned to the shuttle approximately twenty-five minutes before the others. We talked for quite some time," she confided sounding mildly perplexed.

"Why so much sooner?" She had assumed the entire group met with the miners.

"Her objective had been accomplished and things were proceeding peaceably. She felt the others could handle the rest without screwing it up too much. Her words, not mine." She added almost apologizing for the mildly offensive terminology. "Eight also said, that for better or worse, you are the Captain, with a capital C. She felt that it was very important I understand that."

Two took a breath, this was so not what she wanted, despite the fact she had pretty much taken control right from the beginning when nobody else had stepped into the role of leader. Eight could have done the job, Four would have been a capable leader, possibly even One. Three definitely would relish the position if he ever got it.

Looking after herself, sure. She could handle that. Being responsible for seven other people, trying to merge them into a crew, maybe even some sort of family. A highly dysfunctional, overly volatile family. That was so much more than she felt comfortable with.

"And is there?" Two asked. "Some sort of anomaly?"

"Several actually. Eight herself," the Android informed her. "She possesses genetic markers that far exceed those possessed by normal humans."

"You mean she's not human?" Two asked. The girl looked human, she certainly acted human with all the prerequisite quirks.

"Quite the contrary," the Android responded. "She is, if you'll pardon the term, a superior human being. Less than one in ten millionth of a percent share these genetics, such as Five, only on a much smaller scale. Unlike Eight, Five's DNA is comprised of approximately seventy-three point two four percent of superior genetic material, though the vast majority of it is in a regressive state, dormant if you would. She possesses very few active genes, less than six percent."

"And Eight?"

"Nearly ninety-eight percent."

Turning slightly Two ran a hand through her dark hair. "How is that even possible?" She mumbled as her mind raced trying to make sense of the information inside her skull. According to the Android Eight was some sort of super freak and Five… No, Five was normal. Ok, so she had odd dreams. Everyone had the odd dream though, it was natural. "You said it was one in ten millionth of a percent. How did we wind up with two on board?"

"The most likely explanation is because Eight is Five's mother," the Android told her.

Two felt her world tilt as her legs stopped functioning. The only thing preventing her from sitting down hard was the Android holding her bicep. "That's not –" Two started but stopped. The Android wouldn't have said it if she wasn't positive. Five was in her mid teens and Eight was… Twenty-five and that was pushing believability. "Are you positive?" She couldn't help asking.

"Ninety-nine point eight percent," the Android answered. "Though it's not two but three on board that possess these superior DNA strands. Four shares them as well but to a much smaller degree, only about nine percent of his genetic code with less than half a percent active. This is probably the result of being further removed from the source material."

"And by source material you're referring to Eight?"

"I am," the Android acknowledged. "Possibly seven, maybe as many as nine generations removed."

Two smiled at that. "Alright," she said a bit of amusement distorting her voice. "You had me going there for moment."

A puzzled expression slid across the Androids face. "I do not understand?"

"Who was it… Three? Seven?" She asked with a bit of a head shake. They were the only ones on board that would have gone through with such a joke. It actually wasn't that bad. Five might have been hard to swallow but medically it might have been possibly she would have to check out the ships medical library to confirm it, but trying to claim Eight was somehow Four's great, great, great, great, great grandmother and she might have been short a couple of greats there. Only the Android's expression hadn't changed. "You can stop now," she ordered. "Joke's over."

Understanding seemed to light in her eyes. "You believe I am attempting humor to lighten what you and the other crew members are going through?" She stated with a complete lack of humor. "I assure you I am not capable of that level of empathy, nor offering a suitable facsimile."

"There's no way," Two said. "Eight couldn't be as old as you're suggesting. Look at her…"

"I have, many times and by physical appearance you would be correct. She does not look old enough to have a child barely five years her junior, but this ship does possess a vast medical data base which enables me to state, with the utmost confidence, that Eight is quite possibly the oldest person alive today. Unlike modern humans who undergo an array of genetic modifications from the moment of conception to birth in order to eliminate undesirable genetics; birth defects, predisposition to certain diseases; cancer, diabetes, heart disease just to name a few. Eight has never undergone any such gene therapy which would put her age, minimally at over five hundred and twenty three years when the first laws were passed making such procedures mandatory."

"That's…"

"Impossible," the Android supplied. "I know. According to my research of that time period humans possessed a much shorter life span, averaging little more than seventy-five years as compared to the nearly one hundred and thirty-one of the modern humans. Not including deaths by suicide, accident or other violent and unnatural causes. The only plausible explanation I can come up with at this time is the fact that Eight possesses these superior DNA strands…"

"That she's somehow immortal," Two whispered. It beggared the imagination to wrap her mind around the concept. To have lost everything and everyone you must have ever loved and cared for. It wasn't so dissimilar to what everyone aboard this ship was going through right now. In a way this was a fresh tabula for her; a clean slate. Did she somehow do this to herself and the rest of them, the rest of this ship just got caught up in the backwash? Could she blame her if she did? What lengths would she go through to forget five hundred years of memories and start over as somebody new? "Not a word of this to anybody. Not Five, not Eight no one." She took a breath and exhaled. "I'll talk with Eight after the meal. Tell her about Five…"

"But not about her age?" Andi surmised.

"That stays between us," Two said.

/ / /

"I'm telling you," One started emphatically with more than just a trace of anger coloring his voice, the meal sitting in front of him all but forgotten as he tried to bring the others around to his way of thinking. "The matching pendants. It can't be coincidence."

Two was on his left in the center of the table of the table and Eight was on his right at the end with Six directly across from him. Five was on Two's left and Seven next to her at the far end of the table facing Eight. Four was across from Five while Three was facing Two and had been shoveling food into his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in days.

"All I'm saying, even if we're suppose to be helping these people… Which I doubt? Doesn't mean we're going to do it," Three countered as he scraped the last remaining dregs from the bottom of his plate.

"We don't even know what happened to us," Two reminded everyone. "Or how we're going to get our memories back and those weapons would fetch a very good price on the open market. The money would go a long way," she pointed out.

"Except they're already paid for," One tried appealing to the group conscious. "They belong to the miners."

"Doesn't matter if they belong to the miners," Three countered losing what little restraint he had. He felt it was a miracle he hadn't shot One yet. "They're in our cargo hold. They belong to us now."

"Those people will die if we don't help them," Six said trying to remain objective.

"They're already dead," Four countered without emotion. It was a simple statement of fact.

Three glanced in his direction with a bit of surprise etched into his face at finding an unlikely ally. "Doesn't say much, but when he does… It makes sense."

"If their enemy is even half as powerful as they believe, then they're doomed."

Eight snorted, a bit of a dark smirk glittering in her eyes. "You got something to say pint size?" Three demanded. He had been hoping the little blonde was going to keep her mouth shut and simply eat her food.

"You…" she started but stopped reordering her thoughts. "We're all focused on this one narrative. Honest merchants hauling freight?" There was a mildly mocking quality to her tone. "The Corps still frown upon arming civilians with anything more dangerous than pitchforks and rocks, and the GA still considers running weapons to be a class A felony. No matter how you slice the apple, at the core it's still rotten." She shoved her plate away. It was nearly spotless. "And for those that didn't pick up on it, we're the apple. Not having our memories doesn't change that."

Three was looking at her with something she didn't care for. It was almost like he had discovered a new found respect for her. She felt soiled to the center of her being and knew it would be a long time before she'd manage to wipe away that feeling but she wasn't going to walk around with her head buried in the sand or deny who she was.

A killer.

One didn't let her statement stop him, she had to give him credit for his tenacity if nothing else. "The least we can do is give them a fighting chance," he told the others.

"I'm pretty sure the least we can do is nothing," Three argued. "Which for the record is what I'm suggesting we do," he finished leaning back in his chair.

"All right," Two cut in having listened to enough. It was time to put this issue to bed. One way or another. "Let's put it to a vote."

"Fine," Three started. "I vote, we keep the weapons, we sell them, take what we make to stay alive and find out what the hell happened to us."

"Agreed," Four added.

"I think we do what we know we came here to do," One countered. "To complete the delivery."

"He's right," Six said. "I say we help those people."

"Thank you," One said grateful for the support.

Eight wasn't much surprised. Out of everyone aboard the ship, the two of them were odd. There was an honesty, an almost naivety about them that the others lacked with the exception of the two teenagers, but they were young. "Without our memories or a proper ship log or manifest, we don't have a clue. For all we know this could have simply been the nearest place to pick up fresh veggies and other foodstuff at a reasonable price and those weapons just might be ours, or they could belong to a customer who's expecting them and will be mighty pissed at us for unloading them on some backwater world for, that was a mighty fine rutabaga you gave us, here have an automatic weapon, Vive la révolution. We keep the weapons, find the nearest station, learn everything we can about ourselves and go from there." She locked her gaze on One and added, "I do not feel like keeping one eye peeled over my shoulder or having to kill every Tom Harry Dick because we delivered the weapons to the wrong person."

Five looked disgusted listening to Eight. Some of the things the older woman said were concerning, she didn't want to look over her shoulder either waiting for someone she didn't know to make an attempt on her life but she didn't think she could stand by and let other people die just because it was easier then getting involved. "I want to help those people," she said.

Eight almost smiled at the earnestness of the girl's statement, but she kept the odd feeling well concealed. Two had been paying particular attention to the pair of them throughout the meal, it was subtle but it was there.

"Wait a minute," Three objected. So far it was three to two, he had never expected Eight to come down on his side of the fence but she had and he'd be damned if he lost that edge by allowing a pair of misguided teenagers votes. "She can't vote."

"Why not?" Five demanded aggravated with Three's attitude.

"'Cause you're kids," he answered.

"Who're members of this crew," Six countered.

"Who're kids," Three pointed out again. "What are you guys, like fifteen years old?"

Anger simmered just below the surface of Two's voice as she demanded, "Do we really have to have a vote to decide if they get to vote?"

For a moment Three was silent as he took a casual measure of the room's temperature then raised his hand. "I vote against their voting."

Five wasn't that surprised but she still couldn't help the disgruntled, almost laugh while One rolled his eyes and looked up towards the ceiling. Two reached for Five offering the girl support while Eight gave her head a slight shake. Six glanced at Three and Four kept his eyes downcast.

Three looked from Six to Eight, all the way around the table before coming to rest on Four. "Come on man," he said to Four. He figured Eight was a lost cause, female solidarity or something like it. "Throw up with me." He didn't quite plead but it was close. After a second he dropped his hand with a mildly reproving huff. "Fine," he started with a small amount of hostility lacing his tone. "Four to three," he said not waiting on Seven. He figured the kid would lean in the direction of his sweetheart anyway. "What do you say Boss Lady?"

Two drew a breath coming to a decision. Nobody was going to be happy with her. "Set half the crates aside." She turned, casting her dark eyes on One, "The rest go down to the surface," she said.

One wasn't happy, shoving his chair away from the table leaving his plate relatively untouched. "You done?" Eight asked as she grabbed the plate unconcerned with his answer as she shoved her empty one aside.

Three gawked at her. "Where the hell do you put all that?"

Eight shrugged at him, "Growing girl needs all the cals she can get."

Three smirked at her, for a pint sized powerhouse she wasn't as bad as he originally thought. She was still a bitch but a bitch he was getting better at understanding. "I'm pretty sure you stopped growing awhile ago. At least vertically," he added and then reacted just quick enough not to get an eye put out by a pea that whizzed past his head as if it had been fired from a pistol.

/ / /

Two approached Eight's quarters. The door was already opened and a soft haunting melody floated out of the chamber accompanied by Eight's melancholy voice. "All around me are familiar faces. Worn out places, worn out faces. Bright and early for their daily races. Going nowhere, going nowhere. Their tears are filling up their glasses. No expression, no expression. Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow. No tomorrow, no tomorrow."

Her voice changed, it didn't really brighten, but it suddenly found a little more energy as she switched from plucking individual notes to slowly strum a number of the strings at once. "And I find it kinda funny. I find it kinda sad. The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had. I find it hard to tell you. I find it hard to take. When people run in circles. It's a very, very mad world, mad world." Occasionally she would still pluck an individual string or two between the slow strums but it only seemed to enhanced the chilling quality of the song.

Then it lost the little happiness it had found which caused it to become even darker, adding an underlying layer of moodiness as she once again began to pluck the strings. "Children waiting for the day they feel good… Happy birthday, happy birthday. And I feel the way that every child should, sit and listen, sit and listen. Went to school and I was very nervous, no one knew me, no one knew me. Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson. Look right through me, look right through me."

Entering the room she said, "I'd thought you'd be helping the others?"

"I contributed," Eight answered without looking, almost allowing herself to be mesmerized by the movement of her fingers dancing along the fretboard; the song, the beat and rhythm changing. "I gave Four the anti-grav sled so they wouldn't have to haul all those heavy crates by hand." The tempo of her playing speeding up as she concentrated the fingers of both hands on the four thickest strings between the first, second and third fret or leaving the string completely open as she struck almost attacking the strings as she repeated a specific pattern.

"You're really good at that?" Two complimented the blonde.

Eight snorted as she quickly stood up, placing the guitar on the bed. "I seem to be really good at a lot of things." She plucked a book, seemingly from random off her desk and tossed it to Two.

The brunette caught the book, quickly turned the book over. It looked expensive, real leather inlaid with gold along the script. She opened the book to somewhere near the middle. "I can't read it," Two admitted.

"I can," Eight replied. "Read it, speak it, translate it," she informed Two as she picked up a notepad from where it had been buried under several books. "In fifteen different languages and I only stopped because I got bored. Andi already verified each one is accurate," she said cutting Two off before she could say anything. "Do you know how long it takes for a learned skill to just be? Where you don't have to think about it."

"I'm going to assume you do," Two replied. "Andi supplied you with the information?" It was more of an educated guess than a question.

"Ten thousand hours," Eight answered. "That's probably close to three years at sixteen hours a day. Give or take a month or two," she added with a shrug as if saying what's a month or two? "That would make me close to forty-five. Do I look forty-five?"

"Maybe you're exceptionally intelligent," Two suggested. Eight wasn't stupid and was probably a lot smarter than most people expected her to be. Even if it took her five years to learn a language, it showed dedication and commitment. She played a part and let people make their own assumptions. No matter what she may have forgotten about herself she had retained that. "Gifted, like Five?"

"Do I give off the whole gifted vibe to you?" She so wanted to beat something right now. Maybe one of those alien lizard guys would show. A new purse to go with some of her shoes was so what she needed. And it would be combining retail therapy with violence. For some reason that thought brought a bright smile to her face. Taking a breath she centered herself and asked Two, "What did you want anyway? I'm sure you didn't drop in just so you could listen to me bitch."

Turning slightly Two closed the door. While she knew where most everyone was there was no need to take any risk with what she needed to discuss with Eight.

/ / /

"Knock, knock," Two heard Seven say as she made her way onto the bridge.

"Who's there?" Andi inquired dutifully.

"Banana," Seven answered with a smile.

Two couldn't help but smile at the young man. Whatever had led him to this ship she hoped he never outgrew his boyishness. "Really? Knock, knock jokes?" She asked.

At the same time Andi asked, "Banana who?"

Seven offered her a playful shrug but figured it was about time this particular joke. "Knock, knock." He said for the last time.

Andi replied with her standard, "Who's there?"

"Orange," Seven answered.

"Orange who?"

"Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"

"After fifteen times, extremely," Andi replied honestly. "Now that Two has arrived on the bridge I was considering asking her to shoot you for me. Baring that, I was considering relieving her of one of her guns and shooting you myself. Someplace non-lethal of course."

Two hid her smile behind her hand as Seven grinned openly. "And you told me you didn't have a sense of humor?"

Andi frowned at him as she said, "I am being completely serious."

"We got to start somewhere," Seven said ignoring Andi. "Figured go with the basics and work our way up from there."

Two shifted her attention to the screen behind Andi, "Who's that?" she asked with a slight nod toward the static filled image of a man.

"She wouldn't tell me," Seven answered and then seemed to realize Two wasn't talking to him.

"I don't know," Andi answered succinctly. "The file is corrupt. This has been a difficult and tedious process," her gaze almost wavered toward Seven but she managed to maintain the pretense that she was discussing the data retrieval. "However I have managed to recover a sizeable data cache," she told Two.

"Let's see it," Two said. She could feel the tension in her shoulders, hear the apprehension in her own voice. Despite wanting to know the truth, she was fearful of the things that truth might reveal about herself and the others.

/ / /

Eight glanced at her quarter's open entrance as she heard Five's light but distinctive tread drawing closer. She quickly skimmed through the index before tossing it on her bed with several other hard, leather bound books. Each of them contained lengthy sections on dreaming; recognition and control.

Five raised her hand to knock on the bulkhead as she peered into Eight's room. She hadn't been sure what to expect, the swords and the knives were a given considering how the woman armed herself, but the number of books and the musical instruments were unexpected and a complete mystery just like most everything else on board this ship.

"You don't need to knock," Eight said without so much as a backward glance in Five's direction. The young girl suppressed the shiver she felt it creep along her spine, every time she thought she was becoming used to what Eight might be capable of the blonde casually dropped something new into the mix. "At least not while the door's open. Closed," she offered Five a shrug. "Enter at your own risk."

Eight was beyond freaky, Five decided. "Two said you had something for me," she said explaining her presence in a rush so she could escape Eight's presence as quickly as possible.

"On the bed," Eight said with an almost absent gesture in her bed's general direction. She had been there for a bit now, but the blonde still hadn't turned to face her and Eight had never struck her as the sort who didn't look you in the eye. She wasn't exactly the shy or retiring type. "Two mentioned you've been experiencing some troubling dreams."

A scowl flashed across Five's brow, there one moment and gone the next. She had thought she could trust the older woman not to go blabbing. "One dream, after I hit my head. And I wouldn't call it troubling," she griped.

Eight paused in her search, turning to look at the young girl for the first time. There was something in Eight's eyes Five had never thought to see there. At first she would have said fear, but Five doubted Eight was afraid of anything. It was uncertainty.

"Carving out someone's eyes as a message and you don't find it the least bit disturbing," she questioned as she edged several of her knives and a few other sharp implements just a little further away. Subtle Eight wasn't.

Five still felt her cheeks color at the implication. She didn't back down though. "It was one dream and it wasn't even mine so go track down the person it belonged to and tell him I don't want it anymore." She turned to storm out but found herself held in place as a warm hand took hold of her bicep. She twisted around glaring hard at the blonde, a bit of venom just waiting to be unleashed but the words died as she saw the deep well of concern brimming in the green eyes.

"Two's concerned about you," Eight said not giving Five an opportunity to pull away.

"And why would she come to you?" Five demanded. "Not like we're great friends. I don't think we've spent more than five minutes together when there hasn't been a room full of people surrounding us."

Eight took a calming breath as she let go of Five's arm. "Andi found certain similarities in our DNA profile and Two thought I might be experiencing these memory dreams," she explained. Not a lie, but not the truth either.

"Have you?" Five asked quickly.

Eight gave her head a soft shake, "Nothing like you. Then again I still see flashes, bits and pieces."

"That's something," Five said. What she wouldn't give for just one memory.

"I think I'd prefer your way," Eight said softly. "A clean slate to wipe away –"

"I need everyone on the bridge now," Two's voice cut through the comms. There was an edge to her voice.

"What's the matter?" One asked with concern. He had obviously heard the same emotional distress.

"Just get up here," Two answered.

"We better go," Eight said glad for the interruption.

Five picked up one of the books off the bed, frowned at the cover then opened to a random page, closed her eyes and exhaled. "You know this is written in Latin?"

"So," Eight said with an ambivalent shrug.

"I don't speak Latin and I sure don't read it," she pointed out tossing the book back on the bed.

"I'll translate it for you," Eight offered helpfully as she closed the door to her quarters. "Or better yet, I'll teach you to read it. Seriously what does the modern educational system teach you kids these days anyway?" Which earned her a bare whisper of a smile.

/ / /

They caught up with the others just as they rounded the corner leading to the bridge. One angled his path to intercept Eight, despite siding with Three he didn't hold anything against the woman. At least she was honest, and while she probably would stab you in the back you would know it was coming first.

"Did Two sound –"

"Upset," Eight cut him off in a hushed whisper before he said something loud enough for Five to overhear. She had taken to Two. More so than she probably ever would to her. She was surprised he caught her tone and dropped the matter.

He used his longer legs to eat up more of the corridor and entered the bridge first followed closely by Six. "What's going on?" He asked as Three and Four entered just after leaving Five and Eight to bring up the rear.

Two waited until everyone was on the bridge before answering. Seven looked pale, paler at any rate so whatever was going on wasn't going to be of the good. He gestured for Five and the young girl shot him a questioning look.

"Andi managed to recover a significant amount of data related to this ship and its crew," Two answered. Eight could still pick up on the undercurrents of anger lacing her tone but it was tightly reigned in.

"Well that's good," Six said with just a trace of hesitancy. "Isn't it?" He asked catching Two's posture and bearing.

An image appeared on one of the screens. It was a Galactic Authority Most Wanted bulletin with Three's face and the name, "Marcus Boone," the Android said. Then, just in case anybody couldn't read it she added, "Murder. Assault. Kidnapping. Piracy."

Six's face appeared next. "Griffin Jones. Murder. Assault. Smuggling."

One's image replaced Six. "Jace Corso. Murder. Assault. Kidnapping. Trafficking. Theft."

Eight replaced One. "Elizza Dawn. Murder. Assault. Piracy. Theft. Trafficking. Kidnapping. Smuggling. Arson. Terrorism. Espionage. Assassination."

Four's image appeared. "Ryo Tetsudo. Murder. Assault. Piracy."

Two's face came up last. "Portia Lin. Murder. Assault. Arson. Theft. Piracy."

The six fugitive's faces lined up on the screen side by side. "Turns out the Raza aren't a race of aliens," Portia informed the assembled group. "The Raza's the name of this ship. We're not here to help these people. We're here to kill them."

"No," Corso rebuked Portia's statement. "That's impossible." Denial was written large across his questioning features. "That can't be right? Can it?"

"I recovered the information from a fragment of the ship's log related to its crew list," the Android informed the group. "There is no reason to doubt its veracity."

"Of course not," Portia murmured softly. "In fact it all makes perfect sense now. The Raza…"

"This ship," the Android supplied trying to remain helpful.

"Yeah… But as far as the miners are concerned a race of blood thirsty aliens, monsters come to wipe them out."

"But the truth is we're nothing but a bunch of lowlife mercenaries," Jones added.

"Nay," Marcus started. "We're better than that." He pointed towards the screen, "We're also pirates and smugglers and thieves. It's a very diversified portfolio."

Corso twisted his head slightly, glaring at Boone. "You think this is funny?"

"It's my defense mechanism," Marcus smirked. "Humor," He paused for a moment. Then gave the screen an abbreviated nod just before he added, "That… And apparently killing people."

"I think we need to talk about our next move," Jones said.

"Well he's right you know," Marcus said before the silence could lengthen into something uncomfortable… More uncomfortable. "Oh, listen I don't wanna be the one to say it, but if all that stuff is true, then we came here to do a job…"

"You want to go down to that planet? Kill those people?" Corso demanded.

"No one's killing anyone," Portia declared unilaterally.

"I didn't say I want to kill anyone," Boone clarified. "I'm just talking about the people who hired us?"

"Ferrous Corporation," Six reminded the group. "Galactic combine."

"Exactly," Boone agreed. "Not the sort of folks you want to disappoint," he said with a brief look towards Dawn. She had made a good point earlier and he had no desire to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. "I'm guessing."

"Too bad," Corso said digging his heels in. "I'm no murderer," he added ignoring the screen and its claims.

Boone smirked again as he said, "That's funny, because the screen says otherwise."

"Yeah, I don't care what it says," Corso pointed out.

"So have you managed to uncover anything else?" Boone asked the Android.

"Unfortunately the rest of the data is corrupted," Andi informed the group.

"I suppose that's plenty," Six said. Anger running concurrently with bitterness and self loathing. Out of everything he had been expecting this hadn't even been a blip on the long range sensors. "A hell of a lot more than I wanted to know."

"We all wanted to know," Ryo said from the back of the group. "These are the memories we left behind. Death. Despair. Chaos. So what? They're no longer a part of us now, then what does it even matter?" Not waiting on an answer he turned and exited the bridge. The others quickly following behind him.

"Should I continue my attempts at data recovery?" Andi inquires. "Portia?"

"Don't," the brunette murmured. "Don't call me that," she added coming to a decision. "No computer file is going to tell me who I am. Call me Two," she finished. With anger driven steps she followed the others off the bridge.

"Okay Two," Andi agreed in the silence. Shifting her head slightly she took in the last remaining member of the crew aboard the bridge. "Do you have a preference as to which you wish to be called?"

The blonde shrugged at the question. "You can keep calling me Eight if it makes the others more comfortable in group settings. When we're alone you can call me Dawn if you want. Who knows, maybe this is a new beginning."

"Alright Dawn," Andi said experimenting with the name.

"Keep digging," Dawn said. "Anything you can find out. See what you can dig up about our… Atrocities. But do it subtle like."


	2. Celebration Day

Author: Bastille Kain

Title: God Shuffled His Feet

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters of any show or other medium; comics, movies, and books that are unfortunate enough to be used here all belong to other people. Again I own nothing and make no profit from these writings.

Spoilers: Anything and everything.

Summary: Buffy/Dark Matter Crossover. It is long and complex. The short of it is Buffy wakes up aboard the Raza as a member of its crew. Just like everyone else she has no memories of her life before waking up.

Pairings:

Rating: MA-18. Just to play it safe. Eventually there is going to be adult themed subject matter, gratuitous violence and explicit sexual scenes not to mention strong language.

Feedback: Is always appreciated.

Archive: If you like it that much, sure. Just be sure to let me know where it's going, and give me the credit, good or bad, for my work.

Musical Note: I like to use song titles or lyrics for story names and chapter titles. God Shuffled His Feet: The Crash Test Dummies. Celebration Day: Led Zeppelin. Paint it Black: The Rolling Stones. And When I Die: Laura Nyro (First heard this song at the end of an episode of Van Helsing and out of all the versions I've checked out since then Blood Sweat and Tears/Peter Paul and Mary/The Heavy. Laura Nyro is still the gold standard, although Alison Krauss does an excellent rendition even though it sounds completely different.) Won't Get Fooled Again: The Who.

Author Note: Not a big fan of author notes but here goes… Sorry for the long wait, but my editor/Proof Reader takes forever going over the chapters, reads it through once to get a feel, find little errors (Missed words or wrong words an a where it should be an I… That sort of thing). Then he goes over it again at a pace of two pages per day so about two weeks per chapter. While he isn't really the greatest when it comes to grammar, punctuation, and what not; he is very thorough. I've already got two more chapters completed… Come as You Are and a Buffy/Supergirl Crossover and I'm between halfway and three quarters of the way done on five other chapters; Chapter Three of God Shuffle his feet, Chapter Four of Come as You Are, Chapter Two of Buffy/Supergirl, Chapter One of a Buffy/Arrow crossover and Chapter One of a Buffy/Lucifer crossover. I'm also fleshing out Synopsis for a Buffy/Young Justice story along with a Buffy/Fallout4, and a couple… I'll just call them mega crossover story lines one centered in Justice League Unlimited, another in Once Upon a Time, and one set in the Wheel of Time. There are a lot of ideas just tumbling around in this crazy little mind of mine and if I don't get at least a brief little synopsis fleshed out they really will drive me up a wall. Anyway I've rambled on long enough so…

Enjoy the Story,

Kain

God Shuffled His Feet

Chapter Two: Celebration Day

Andi, she could become used to the name Eight had given her. It wasn't a name she would have chosen for herself, but when has any child ever gotten to chose their own name.

She observed the two teenagers, Five and Seven as they sat on the floor of the bridge. Five had her legs folded under herself while Seven had his splayed out in front of himself while supporting his torso on his forearms. The pair continued to stare at the screen displaying the still framed images of the Raza crew, six wanted criminals.

Marcus Boone had been correct in his observation. They did possess a rather diversified portfolio; everything from murder to kidnapping; piracy, trafficking, and smuggling along with arson, espionage and various acts of terrorism.

"I'm worried," Seven told Five. Neither of the two was aware of her presence. "We wake up from stasis, no memories. I've been shot –"

"And you think one of them did it?" Five asked him.

Seven lifted a rather expressive eyebrow as he gestured toward the screen. "They do sort of have a history of shooting people… And worse."

Five looked at him with dark eyed indignation. "You really see One shooting either of us?" She refused to acknowledge the names. "Or Six?" She shrugged slightly as she added, "Maybe Four if it was expedient? Three's just a loud mouth jerk most of the time but even he wouldn't shoot us. And you've spent as much time around Two as I have. Besides if they shot you, why go through the trouble of patching you up?"

"Maybe it's not so much who they are now as who they used to be and what happens once they get their memories back," Seven wondered.

"Perhaps," Andi started making her presence known and startling the two teens.

Five gave a slight start as she gasped while Seven twisted in the direction of the voice. He clutched at his side with a muttered, "Shit."

"I'm sorry," Andi apologized. "I did not mean to startle you."

"You didn't startle me," Five told her.

"Scared the crap out of, is more like it," Seven said trying to get his pulse back under control. Five shot him a look. Almost since the moment they came out of stasis they had more or less been able to approximate what the other was going to say and put it into their own words. "Sneaking up on us like that."

"My stealth routines are very efficient," Andi informed them sounding very proud of her abilities. If Five didn't know better she would say Andi was boasting, but androids didn't boast.

"Tone 'em down," Seven offered.

"Or dial them back," Five added.

"Maybe ring a bell…"

"Say something."

They shared a grin and said, "Whistle a tune," in unison.

Andi took in the smiling pair, an odd sense of wellness emanated from her core. No matter what else, they at least had each other. She would do her utmost to ensure that never changed. She sat between them, folding her legs much as Five. "Are you afraid of them now?" She inquired with an odd sense of curiosity.

Five glanced at Seven, she kind of knew he was concerned but he had felt that way even before Andi managed to dig up their history. "You think we should be?"

"They show a history of violence, mental instability, extreme antisocial behavior. Deceit –"

"What's important is who they are now," Five interrupted.

Seven didn't agree with her completely but so far they had been anything but violent or threatening towards them. Even Three, he was a jerk. Sure. Despite that he had never made him feel uncomfortable or even unwanted or that he should be afraid of him.

"An admirable attitude," Andi stated in a matter of fact manner. Then she added in the same tone, "Also, potentially a very foolish and dangerous one."

Five ignored Seven's I told you so smirk. "You're the one that tried to kill us," she said instead.

"The result of a programmed directive which has since been deleted," Andi replied.

"Same with them, maybe?" Five argued with quiet conviction.

Seven rolled his eyes but offered a semi accepting, "Right."

Andi paused for a moment, willing to entertain Five's logic even if it might be flawed. Nature versus nurture was an age old debate that had yet to be conclusively resolved. "If it is not fear, then why are you upset?"

"What makes you think we're upset?" Five asked.

"Not you as in both of you, Seven is clearly fearful having suffered a serious injury even if the memory of how or why he was shot is lost to him, discovering that a member of the crew is as likely a suspect as anyone else, has left him feeling vulnerable," Andi explained. She focused on Five and continued, "I can see muscle tension in your jaw and shoulder. I can hear a slight increase in both respiration and heart rate. I can smell a distinct increase in pheromone production –"

"Okay, okay… I get it," Five cut her off before she could add any more embarrassing little tidbits. She flashed Andi a brief flicker of a smile. "Look, if you want to know why, it's because we're the only ones not in the files."

"So we're not members of the crew," Seven jumped in. "So how did we get onboard? Are we stowaways? Did they kidnap us? Demand a huge ransom from our parents?"

"At least they know they belong here," Five said in a voice aching with uncertainty. "We're nothing but a pair of big question marks?"

"There may come a time that you'll consider yourself lucky not to be counted as a member of this crew," Andi replied in what Five considered to be a comforting tone.

"Well right now I just wished I was part of the team," Five countered with a melancholy sigh.

As she started to stand Andi said, "Perhaps you are recent hires," Andi suggested attempting to be helpful. She did not care for the lost quality in Five's tone. "Despite your youth you are very skilled with computers and electronics. Perhaps you were brought on for your technical skills and Seven is your fetcher monkey…"

"Thanks for that," Seven mumbled.

"It is something I heard Eight say. It is very descriptive is it not?"

Seven smiled at that with a, "Yeah. Descriptive."

Andi return her attention to Five who was now struggling to hold in a grin. "It is also possible that one or both of you have a connection to a member of the crew that we are unaware of at this time."

Five paused as Andi's words echoed in her ears. What sort of a connection could she or Seven possibly have with a member of the crew. It wasn't like –

It couldn't be.

A genetic similarity, Eight had told her earlier.

No, it couldn't be possible. She was a mass murderer. A terrorist.

Five felt sick. As if everything she's ever eaten was about to come back up on her. "I've got to go," she murmured to Seven and Andi and than bolted from the bridge.

Seven watched Five race away. He had never seen her in such a state. Granted he only had about a day's worth of memories to go by. He got to his feet much slower than Five had knowing there was no way he was going to catch up to her. "For the record, you might want to keep the whole smelling pheromones thing to yourself. Not going to make you very many friends."

"But I can smell them," She said as Seven exited leaving her alone on the bridge.

/ / /

Hacking into the Raza's medical files was far easier than Five thought it would be, not that there were any established security protocols in place and the information was simply there for anyone to peruse. Understanding the information was far more complicated but with the help of the computer she had finally managed confirming her suspicions.

Eight was her mother.

An assassin. A terrorist. A mass murdering psychopath.

She wanted to find a hole. Someplace dark she could crawl into, curl up and just wither away.

It was in her blood…

Worse it was buried deep down in her genes.

There was no running away from it. She couldn't hide from it. Couldn't scrape it away or bleed it out.

Mocking her, Four's genetic profile filled another monitor. According to the computer they shared a common ancestor. Eight, whose genetics filled a third monitor. Only he was much further removed, like seven to nine generations. Technically that made him, her nephew; with a half dozen greats thrown in there for good measure.

If nothing else, it proved her point. No matter how far removed he was Four was as much a cold blooded killer as Eight.

She didn't want to be a killer.

Maybe Two would –

The thought stopped before it could truly form. Two had known and said nothing. That was possibly the reason Two had sent her to Eight in the first place, which meant Eight knew as well and remained silent when they had spoken.

Five closed her eyes, took a deep breath trying to slow her racing mind.

How do you react when confronted with a teenage daughter and neither of you have any memories that are more than twelve hours old?

Only Eight said she did have memories. More flashes or images not really memory, memories. Maybe these flashes showed her things she didn't want to remember. That could explain the reason behind her clean slate comment.

She could stand here all day holding a silent debate and accomplish nothing. It was highly unlikely the DNA results were going to change any time soon. Like it or not there was only one person who might have answers for her.

It was time to have a conversation with her mother.

/ / /

Dawn sighed in frustration. Andi had been correct. Without a direct link to a Hab-1 Data port the intranet was worse than useless. Sure she could pull down general information; the standard… Should be considered armed and dangerous. Do not approach. Contact your local GA with current location. It even gave a greatest hits of their crimes, acts they were suspected of committing, wanted for questioning in. The least of their crimes carried a minimum life without the possibility of parole sentence.

Somehow it just didn't seem right that she could be tried and convicted in absentia.

She wanted to rip the terminal from its housing, only that wouldn't accomplish anything other than leaving her without a terminal until she could convince Five to fix it for her.

With a sharp jab of her index finger she shut the terminal down. It began to go black but after a second it flickered, as a familiar voice filled her quarters, "There is nothing wrong with your monitor. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission," as the monitor grew brighter to a near blinding whiteness that filled the entire screen, "We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical," before it shrank back down to a pinprick, like gazing at the sun from behind a sheet of blackness. The light stretched into a thin horizontal line that began to roll up the monitor as the voice went on, "We can roll the image; make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity." It was her voice, only it wasn't her voice. There was a cadence to it, a maturity and presence that she simply didn't posses.

On the monitor her face appeared in a sea of black nothingness. But again it was her, only it wasn't. She looked, not older but more mature with harder, colder eyes. Her blonde hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and her ears lacked any sort of adornment, no earrings or clip-ons.

From somewhere off screen a male voice said, "I can't believe you're gonna Total Recall yourself." Green eyes, with all the warmth of a polar icecap, shifted in the direction of the speaker. "Right sorry," came the hasty apologized.

With a hard breath the green eyes returned front and center and Dawn had the feeling they were staring straight through her; as if she was something to be scraped off the bottom of her shoe. A functional combat boot if the severe image on the monitor was anything to go by. "That you're seeing this message, I can only assume the Android has retrieved the ship's data log and as usual curiosity has gotten the better of you. Just be mindful of what it did to the cat.

"You obviously have questions. Unfortunately the few answers you left me… To put it bluntly they're rather unenlightening. As is normal for us we have forever been a bit cryptic even with ourselves. Temporal paradoxes or what have you.

"To answer what is probably your most obvious question, we are not responsible for the memory wipe. If you ever did uncover the person or group behind it you never disclosed that information, at least not to me. You merely put yourself in a position to take advantage of the situation and infiltrated the crew of the Raza. No matter what you intimate, I do not believe they are the stalwarts you claim them to be.

"For the record, I do not agree with your plan to undertake this mission. With everything coming to a head, another agent, even a senior agent could have been made available at this juncture. We have duties and responsibilities. Everything we have done… And yes, no matter what you may wish to believe, everything in that file is true. It has been, always will be, are one redeemable quality. The preservation of life in this universe, our universe. We do what no one else can do, make the decisions nobody but us can make. We stopped looking for alternatives a long time ago and have committed atrocities to numerous to count for our cause, tried to wipe our sins away with the blood of the innocent. Perhaps that is the reason why you decided to take this course, a last chance to cleanse our soul.

"I do not know?"

She took a breath and appeared to lose the tension she had been holding. "Whatever happens, I wish you the best. God only knows we deserve a little happiness in our life. I don't know which of our girls is with you, I did all I could to protect them from people like us, from organizations that would try to turn them into us, hiding them so even I wouldn't be able to find them. Cherish them. Love them. And if anything… Anyone ever threatens them… Wipe them from the face of existence."

The screen went black.

"No!" She growled quickly turning the terminal on. There had to be more. If she was suppose to be doing something why didn't she just tell her? Why the cloak and dagger? The subterfuge? If the universe hung it the balance…?

It made no sense not to come out and speak plainly.

/ / /

Five backed away from the door, a numbness hanging over her as she stumbled into the wall directly across from the door. Eight had known, well not Eight but the person she had been before knew that they were going to lose their memories. She stood by and allowed it to happen.

All as part of some grand scheme to avert a universal disaster. So wrapped up in her great goal she abandoned her daughters…

She stopped as the words sunk in.

Daughters?

A sister. She had a sister out there.

She needed to talk to someone, but who? Who could she trust?

/ / /

Dawn stopped an inch or so before her door would automatically open. Catching up to Five would have been a simple matter, but then what? It wasn't like she had any sort of explanation for what the young girl must have heard.

And the message was gone, deleting itself after playing. Perhaps Andi could recover it, or some of it but that was doubtful. Her former self or more likely an underling… A minion. Had she been the sort of person who would have minions… Obviously they knew their way around a computer.

No, once she and the others returned from making their delivery there was going to be another meeting. First she'd talk to Two and Five, feel them out. Then she would take her chances with everyone else.

With luck they wouldn't try to space her.

There were still things that needed to be done before it was time for them to leave. It didn't take her long to reset the security parameters. No matter what she would prove to Five that she trusted her.

A thought had been bugging her since the message from herself. Opening the chest she quickly scanned the contents. She had seen it in here when she had been going through her things earlier and there it was again. She pulled the case from its place and gazed at it with curiosity, as if it were the clue to a puzzle.

The right side of a man's face dominated the case. The word Schwarzenegger was printed in large block letters along the top and Total Recall were in the bottom corner with a tag line of "Get ready for the ride of your life" just above it. She closed the case and leaned the box against the mirror attached to her vanity. Now she had a note to leave, just in case Five returned.

/ / /

"It also means you could spend the rest of your life doing good deeds and not even come close to making up for it," Two told One from inside the galley. There was a trace of infuriated anger brimming in her voice. She seemed to calm herself, at least a little. "Look I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work. You don't want to believe what those computer files say you are? Fair enough. I don't much want to either, but I'm not going to kill myself trying to make up for crimes I don't even remember committing." Five heard the chair scrape back across the floor. "We stick to the plan."

"And who made you team leader?" One demanded like a petulant child.

"I did," Two answered. "By stepping up and so didn't all of you by not challenging me when I did." This time the anger was seething in her words as she crossed back to the table, her steps were heavier, filled with a rage. "Unless… Unless you've had a change of heart and think you can do a better job?" The question hung in the air a moment, the silence stretching out until Two finally said, "Didn't think so."

A few seconds later she exited the galley and spotted Five pacing across the hall a few feet away, the teenager was just about bursting with nervous energy. Moving toward Five, Two gestured and the young girl fell in beside her. It was obvious Five wanted to talk but she remained silent until they were out of earshot.

"You heard," Two finally asked.

Five shrugged as she said, "Just toward the end. You were kind of hard on him though, not that I don't agree with you," she said hastily but then added, "not that I don't agree with One either. I wish this was simpler?"

"You're not the only one," Two agreed. "You've got something else on your mind though?"

Five's gaze darted toward Two, her eyes so expressive and full of her emotions, but she quickly looked away. Two could see the turmoil on her face. It was eerie how similar to Eight she was, but while the blonde built walls to hide behind Five wore her emotions plain for everyone to see. Two wondered if Eight had ever been like Five once. If so she had been very different once upon a time. "It's Eight," Five said in a voice that was very conflicted.

Two exhaled, a tension she hadn't realized she was holding drained from her muscles. "She told you?" It surprised her that Eight had told Five now. After everything they had recently learned about themselves she had been sure Eight would have pushed Five even further away, attempt to shield the young brunette from what she was.

"That she's my mother," Five murmured with a derisive snort. She sounded irritated, bordering on outright pissed. "That, I learned by hacking the ship's medical log. You really need to do something about computer security aboard this ship," she added almost as an after-thought.

"Well, I think I might know somebody more than capable of doing the job," Two informed her as if they were involved in some great conspiracy.

For a moment Five almost forgot she was upset with Two. There would be time enough for that later. "I don't think we can trust her," she said quickly. For some reason Five couldn't comprehend, making that statement was almost physically painful.

Two frowned slightly as she came to a stop. Eight was one of the few people on board she did trust. Four had his own agenda, whether he remember it or not; Three she wouldn't trust if he told her water was wet, One wanted to make up for a lifetime of killing and thievery in a single day. Six… There was something too trustworthy about him. A man with his track record should set off some sort of warning bell, but he didn't. Five and Seven were just kids, possibly petty criminals… Street hustlers and grifters who might be attempting to go pro; or maybe they were just running from a bad situation.

Eight though, she was different… Sometimes maniac, other times she was cold and ruthless. Or she could be almost whimsical and carefree. That was just the surface, what she allowed you to see but underneath all those different mask there was a vulnerability, a deep abiding sadness she was hiding. Maybe from herself more than anyone else?

"Why?"

"I…" Five started. She stopped, tried to calm herself but couldn't. Her mind didn't want to be still. "When I went to confront her, I heard her. Only it wasn't her. It was her voice but it didn't sound like her. She sounded older, in command. Almost heartless. And some of what she was saying –" She stopped again before she lost sight of why she sought Two out. "She knew," Five finally managed to blurt out.

"Knew what?" Two asked, a speculative crease worming its way through her brow.

"About us," Five answered. "Losing our memories," she went on. "It didn't sound like she planned it but was willing to take advantage of a situation that was going to present itself. She didn't agree with the plan but mentioned something about temporal paradoxes. And…" She paused taking a breath and then went on in a soft hesitant voice. "She knew I was going to be here. I'm the reason she went through with her plan. So she could get to me." It hadn't so much been said but she knew it was the truth.

Two's frown deepened slightly as she thought. "Start from the beginning," she ordered. She needed to make sense of what Five was telling her.

Five nodded and started at the beginning or maybe even a little further back to when she first became suspicious during her and Seven's conversation with Andi on the bridge, to her checking the DNA profiles and discovering Eight was her mother, even the fact that she was distantly related to Four. Her confusion and maybe a bit of revulsion at being a blood relation to not just one mass murderer but [to] two, wondering if her genetics predisposed her to being some sort of natural born killer and her decision to confront Eight. Arriving at Eight's quarters only to discover the door closed and a moment from announcing her presence when she heard Eight's voice going on about controlling the image, but it didn't sound like the Eight either of them knew. She had sounded older, in control and confident. She sounded cold yet seething with a sort of anger at having to give up everything just so she could follow through on this plan.

Two nodded, it made a sort of sense, but it also raised more questions. "Can you get back into that file?"

"Yeah," Five answered quickly. "It's not like Eight is all that tech savvy," she added with an abundance of confidence.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Two said earning a frown from the girl but there was no way she was going into that explanation. "While everyone is planet-side make a copy of that file. We can have Andi go over it; authenticate and analyze it." Five turned but Two caught her arm preventing the teenager from leaving. "Eight is smart; she's cunning and ruthless and has probably been running these sorts of operations for a very long time now. She'll probably have contingencies in place to prevent what you're going to be trying to do. You may not like it but you're going to have to think like her and then be better."

Five swallowed, Two was right. She so didn't want to go there but it needed to be done and this was her being needed. "I'll get it done," she said.

Two flashed Five a quick smile and said, "I know you will," with no small amount of confidence.

/ / /

Like everyone else aboard the Marauder, Dawn watch with mild interest as Two took One aside. She wasn't intentionally listening but unlike Andi she didn't possess the ability to adjust her hyper acute senses. They were maxed out all the time. Then again it wasn't like Two meant it to be a private conversation. If she had they wouldn't have held it in the hall outside the open hatch.

"Look," Two started. "I may have been a little hard on you before. Believe me, I know how you feel. We all do. But ten minutes after finding out you used to be a villain is not the time to try to be a hero. There is no room for independent action. We need to stick together and watch each others' backs. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Withdrawing a modified revolver, hidden within a specialized holster built into her black long coat Dawn checked the weapon over. If you didn't know the holster was there it would be nearly impossible to find the holster or gun. She had gotten lucky, or maybe she had known it was there all along. It was one of five holsters hidden in the coat.

"Now that's a work of art," Boone admired the revolver. "May I?" He asked holding out his hand. Dawn passed it over.

With a grunted Three took the weapon feeling its heft, just another reminder of how different the tiny blonde was. "Thing's a beast. A little old fashion for my taste," he opened the cylinder. "Only five rounds," he noted.

"Modified load, a magnesium phosphorous compound. Packs a little more kick," Dawn explained wondering why she would need ammunition that would burn a hole clean through a person's chest. Or why each round was cast in silver and branded with a cross.

Boone grimaced as he handed the gun back. "Remind me not to get on your bad side?" He said as he flashed her a boyish smile. It didn't really make him better looking, but it did make him look less thuggish and a bit more rakish.

Dawn glanced at Ryo. "When we get back, you up for a little sparring? You set the bar," she offered.

"I think so," she heard Corso answer. He didn't sound all that certain.

"Once the weapons are delivered and that shuttle comes back. I want you on it, understood?" Two explained slowly. About the only way she could make it plainer would be if she spelled it out with big block letters.

Ryo nodded but said, "I don't expect you to take it easy on me. I'm not going to just be your practice dummy."

"Of course not," Dawn agreed.

"Yeah," Corso answered.

"That's what Three is for," Dawn agreed with a playful grin.

"Hey," Boone growled.

"You walked right into that one," Jones said with a smirk and a chuckle.

"I haven't said a word," Three complained managing an equal blend of annoyed and irritated.

"Alright," Two said stepping closer. "Safe flight," she added with a gentle slap to his cheek. Turning she started walking away. "Stop staring at my ass."

/ / /

The Marauder had only just launched and they were already at the open door leading into Eight's quarters. Five frowned slightly upon seeing that, it almost felt like Eight was giving her permission. Seven felt a tickle run up his spine and he whispered, "I don't like this." Breaking into someone's place wasn't supposed to involve open doors. It felt like a trap. The thought gave him a moment's pause as he wondered how he could possibly know that. Maybe Andi was right and they had more in common with the crew of the Raza then they first believed. Maybe they simply hadn't made it onto the GA's most wanted list.

"She told me if her door was open I could just go in," Five said crossing the threshold.

"What about your friend?" Seven murmured. "You know, the one that didn't receive an invitation?"

Five shot him a quick smile and said, "You could always play lookout?"

Seven gave her a partial eye roll. "She's on the Marauder making an illegal arms delivery," he reminded her.

"In that case you've got nothing to worry about," Five told him taking another step into the room. "Then again I'm pretty sure her stealth routines are even better then Andi's?"

He glared at her back for a second then said, "I just learned something new about you?"

"What's that?" Five asked in a distant voice as she picked up a note pad she noticed lying on the bed.

"Sometimes you can be a real…" His voice trailed off as he noticed Five wasn't paying attention to him as she read the note Eight had left. "Why use paper?" He wondered aloud. A computer, or even a data pad would have been more efficient.

"She doesn't trust the system," Five said handing the pad over to him. "Thinks it might be compromised by, well… Her. The person she used to be."

"What's a spidey sense?" Seven asked as he lowered the pad. "And why would it tingle?" Most of it read like some kind of cipher.

Five gave him a small shrug. "She also suggested we should record everything, preferably on something that isn't linked into the system as it might be compromised by the same program that deleted the original message."

"Andi," Seven suggested.

Five gave the suggestion some thought and murmured, "Maybe? Her neural link might make her vulnerable though."

"It's too bad we haven't gotten around to doing a complete inventory," Seven pointed out. An object on Eight's vanity caught his attention. A small, very thin rectangular case was leaning against the mirror. It was dark bluish fading into black with the right side of a man's stern face staring straight out. He was handsome enough, a lot of woman probably found him attractive. Along the top of the box was single word, maybe the man's name; Schwarzenegger. In the bottom corner were two words, Total Recall with a tag line of, "Get ready for the ride of your life", just above Total Recall. "What's that?" He asked with a gesture toward the box.

Five took a couple of steps and retrieved the object. "That's what the other voice said. I can't believe you're gonna pull a Total Recall," she told Seven.

"What is it?"

With an indifferent shrug Five gave the box a slight shake. Something inside rattled. "I think it might be some old fashion type of Vid?" She answered though she wasn't exactly sure.

/ / /

Andi had confirmed Five's original assessment. Total Recall was in fact a Vid. The one they discovered in Eight's room was formatted in a style called a DVD. "This," Andi said, "appears to be a highly modified version of the film. Unaltered, this film has a run time of one hour and fifty three minutes. The typical size of a high definition DVD of this type should be approximately three and a quarter to four gigabytes. My scans indicate this disc contains fifteen gigabytes of information."

"Eleven extra gigabytes," Two murmured thoughtfully.

"That's a lot right?" Seven asked.

"Not necessarily," Andi answered. "It could be one file or even just a fragment of a larger one."

"Like they're leading us on a scavenger hunt," Two commented as her temper simmered through.

"An apt analogy," Andi agreed.

"Probably just trying to keep our attention off whatever they're really after," Two theorized.

"Can you play it? Access the information?" Seven asked.

Glancing at the young man Andi said, "Easily. But the possibility exist that Eight is correct and there is some sort of virus infecting the system—"

"Can you and Five set up an isolated system?" Two asked. "In one of the unused rooms, we've got plenty?"

"We might have to scavenge components from some of the empty rooms. Run a diagnostic to ensure nothing is infected," Andi explained.

Five hung back as Andi and Seven left the bridge. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure," Two replied with only the slightest flicker of hesitancy. She was glad Five was still willing to treat her as a friend, maybe even a confidant.

"I know you didn't exactly get the answers you were looking for and this thing with Eight…" She stopped herself, trying to stay focused on the one thing and not head off on another tangent. "But if you could go back to when we first woke up and not know. Would you?"

Two exhaled, a little of her frustration leaking through as she dropped her head, taking a quick look at the floor before returning her dark eyes to Five. "I suppose I might but I have the feeling not knowing would just make me want to know all over again."

"Well," Five said slowly. "I guess the next big mystery that needs solving is who stole our memories."

"If anyone stole them it would've been Eight," Two said in a hard voice.

"I heard that message," Five said with an odd feeling of protectiveness for the blonde. "Eight… Elizza," she changed the name refusing to think of the two women as the same person. "She knew it was going to happen but didn't know who did it. At least that was what she told Eight." There were so many things about that message that bothered her. There were things she needed to research.

Two pinned Five with a concerned look. Despite her claims to the contrary it was becoming obvious that Five was developing an attachment to Eight. Not that she could blame the girl. "Alright, if it wasn't Eight, if she was just taking advantage of the situation then what makes you think it wasn't an accident?"

"In the message Elizza said, "If you ever found out who stole your memories you never told me."."

"Or Elizza was just screwing with her head," Two pointed out. It sounded like something this Elizza would be capable of doing.

Five took a slow breath. "I guess," she said after a moment. "If we manage to cobble something together do you want us to wait for the others or…?"

Two frowned at the question. She didn't really have an answer to give Five. "For right now, we just wait."

/ / /

Eight kept the back of the crate off the ground without any outward sign of strain while a pair of miners grunted with the effort of holding up their end. If it hadn't been so bulky she would have carried the crate herself and been done by now, although she was probably better served by maintaining a semi low level profile. Several of the miners were already looking at her oddly.

Mireille, the young blonde Dawn suspected of being second in command of the colony was approaching Corso, apologizing because they had nothing left to give them but they had sent everything off with Hrothgar. She was concerned with what they were going to tell their employer. Corso offered up a rather lame, "Intergalactic transports a risky business. Cargo gets misplaced or stolen all the time. Insurance will cover it."

Eight wondered if she had ever been such a horrible liar. Unlike the Vid she watched a few hours ago. That version of her had been a master manipulator and she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief she was gone. Hopefully forever.

"You're good people," Mireille said.

Dawn couldn't help but keep an eye on Corso as she set her end of the crate down. The older miner, his dark hair flecked generously with grey exhaled loudly as he stretched, bending back slightly while the younger brown eyed man started, "Damn girl. I don't think—"

"I makes sure to eats me spinich everyday," she cut him off. The very last thing she wanted to do was listen to some fan-boy gush about how special she was.

Corso was having a hard time maintaining eye contact with Mireille. The man was an idiot. He should just accept the compliment and bed the girl already. She couldn't have been any more obvious if she had worn a flashing sign proclaiming herself ripe for the plucking. Instead he said, "No. We're not," in about as morose of a tone as possible.

"Of course you are," she argued. "You've helped us. I mean you've probably saved our lives…"

"I'm beginning to think it's just the opposite. By giving you these weapons I'm afraid we're just giving you false hope," he said. "Look," he started stepping forward. "You can't win this. If you stay here and fight, you'll die."

"I'm hoping it's not going to come to that. We have help coming and more weapons—"

Boone strode up to the pair with a found and good natured, "That's the spirit. Don't let the bastards get you down. As for us," he gave a hooking gesture with his thumb, mouthed softly, "we gotta get," before adding volume, "back to our space ship." Corso at least had the good sense to nod. Perhaps Two's speech had sunk in. If not there were other options.

"Not yet," Keeley said. She was a tall, dark skinned woman with long black hair and brown eyes. She rested a hand on Boone's shoulder. "At least allow us to say thank you."

Boone flashed Keeley a charming smirk as he said, "That blood thirsty look in your eyes is all the thanks I need."

Dawn did her best to suppress the smile but she had the distinct impression her eyes were laughing loudly. She was actually beginning to find Boone amusing.

"With song and drink," Keeley added forcefully.

"Well, who doesn't love a good song," Boone replied.

Dawn let her head roll back as several of the locals strolled pass. There was the distinct sense that things were about to go sideways.

/ / /

After a single sip of beer Dawn decided she would forgo any more and instead made her way over to the raised stage at the back of the local bar where several instruments were located; a pair of steel string acoustic guitars, a small drum set, a large bass cello, a horn, a flute and an upright piano. Picking up one of the guitars she strummed the open strings and winced. She settled on one of the stools as she bent over the guitar and quickly tuned the instrument. Several of the locals took note of her but no one challenged her right to be there.

They had said song and drink and since she didn't like their drink.

She struck a single note on the thinnest string and it made a high pitch, keening wail that she allowed to ring out for several seconds before she struck a series of notes on the fret board in quick succession along the two bottom strings, holding the final note for several prolonged beats. Her fingers shifted smoothly pressing down on the second fret of the fourth and fifth string with her second and third finger of her left hand while her right strummed all six strings in a smooth, steady rhythm once, twice and on the third beat she sang out, "I see a red door and I want it painted black," as her fingers shifted forming a new chord and the beat picked up. "No colors anymore, I want them to turn black." Her fingers glided across the strings forming another chord and the tempo intensified, her words taking on an urgent feeling. "I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes. I have to turn my head away until my darkness goes." The tempo slowed again and her voice became laced with a moody undercurrent. "I see a line of cars and they're all painted black. With flowers and my love, both never to come back." The rhythm increased again. "I see people turn their heads and quickly look away. Like a newborn baby it just happens every day. I look inside myself and see my heart is black. I see my red door and must have it painted black. Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts. It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black. No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue. I could not foresee this thing happening to you. If I look hard enough into the setting sun, my love will laugh with me before the morning comes. I see a red door and I want it painted black. No colors anymore, I want them to turn black. I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes. I have to turn my head until my darkness goes. I wanna see it painted, painted black. Black as night, black as coal…" The strumming slowed, softened as she began to hum.

The pattern of her strumming changed and she sang, "And when I die." She held the last word for several seconds. "And when I'm dead, dead and gone, there'll be one child born and a world to carry on, to carry on." She held onto the word as she once again changed the tempo and rhythm of her strumming giving it more of a down to Earth, backwoods feeling.

"I'm not scared of dying and I don't really care. If its peace you find in dying, well, then let the time be near. If its peace you find in dying, when dying time is here, just bundle up my coffin cause it's cold way down there. I hear that's its cold way down there, yeah, crazy cold way down there. And when I die and when I'm gone, there'll be one child born and a world to carry on, to carry on.

"My troubles are many, they're as deep as a well. I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. Swear there ain't no heaven and pray there ain't no hell, but I'll never know by living, only my dying will tell, only my dying will tell, yeah, only my dying will tell. And when I die and when I'm gone, there'll be one child born and a world to carry on, to carry on.

"Give me my freedom for as long as I be. All I ask of living is to have no chains on me. All I ask of living is to have no chains on me, and all I ask of dying is to go naturally, only want to go naturally. Don't want to go by the devil, don't want to go by the demon, don't want to go by Satan, don't want to die uneasy, just let me go naturally. And when I die and when I'm gone, there'll be one child born, there'll be one child born. When I die, there'll be one child born. When I die, there'll be one child born."

/ / /

"Take this," Five said handing Seven a set of cables and several junction boxes as she continued to strip out a second spare room of its terminal and several other key components.

Seven put them on the antigrav sled. "Why do we need so much?" He asked. He was sure he had asked before but with everything that had been going on better to be safe.

Five pulled another component out of its housing. "Better to get too much now than having to go scavenging for more parts later," she explained. "How are we doing?"

Taking a quick look at the data pad Andi had given them Seven said, "We need two more of those data hub thing-a-ma-bobs and a coil something or other." He glanced around the room and said, "I think we've just about stripped this place bare."

Five nodded as she agreed, "Looks like."

"Five, Seven," Two's voice cut over their comms. "Go to ground. Find a safe place to hole up and stay there until you get the all clear."

"What's…?" Seven started.

"Ferrous Corp," Two's voice cut him off.

"We'll get this down to the hold and then use the ducts to find a safe place to hold up in," Five suggested.

Seven nodded. The hold wasn't far and if anybody got snoopy all they'd see was a bunch of junk. He pushed the sled into the corridor as Five locked the door behind them. It took longer to get to the hold. Once there they secured the room and made their way into the Raza's duct system.

"Does this look familiar?" Five asked.

"It's a duct," Seven answered. "They all look familiar."

"No, look," she said pointing out a dark stain. "I think this might be blood."

Seven frowned. Maybe there was the possibility he needed to talk to someone. "Like from when we first came on board," he suggested.

"Stowaways," Five said.

It was possible, but there were other possibilities. "Or kidnapped and I got shot during an escape attempt."

Five turned slightly and he shrugged. It was possible. "Given what we know about who they used to be, do you really think if one of them shot you that you'd still be alive right now?"

She made a good point. "Fine," he said. "Should we try and follow it?"

/ / /

One listened to Eight as she played a rather upbeat song about death and dying and going to heaven or hell. He wasn't quite sure. Somehow it seemed wrong and yet oddly appropriate. "She's good," Six said. Like Two neither man was comfortable with the men they had been and preferred to be called by their numerical designation when the situation permitted.

"Two said she could play," One agreed. He watched, a sense of revulsion in the pit of his stomach, as Three swallowed a large mug of the miners self brewed beer. "We drink their drink, eat their food and then just…" he exhaled trying to rid himself of the wrongness of the situation. "Leave them here to die?"

Eight stood up as she finished one song and walked over to the piano. She slung the guitar around so that the body rested against her back. One hand began playing repetitive set of chords while the other began playing a quick succession of repeating notes.

"Hey," Six started, trying to calm One down. Talk him off the ledge as it were. "If you have another suggestion that doesn't involve us dying here with them I'd love to hear it." Like One he didn't much care for the man he learnt he had been less than an hour ago. Unlike his shipmate though Six had no plans to play martyr.

One breathed in, he could feel his pulse racing as he came to decision. "Maybe we should tell them the truth?" He suggested to Six.

"What that we're mercenaries sent here to kill them?" That had all the makings of a really bad action vid about a group of idiots forced to kill the very people they were trying to help.

"They should know no more help is coming," One argued.

After half a minute or so Eight brought the guitar back around and struck a series of deep notes on the thickest strings. One note at a time quickly became a pair played together and her fingers moved down the neck of the guitar.

Six gave a slight head shake as he said, "It won't make a difference."

"Maybe not," One agreed as he took a quick look around. "But we might."

Eight's voice added an odd counterpoint to the guitar's rough edge as she began singing. _**We'll be fighting in the streets. With our children at our feet, and the morals that they worship will be gone.**_

"Don't even think about it," Six warned him. Two had talked to him before they left. He was fairly certain Two had talked to most of them.

 _ **And the men who spurred us on. Sit in judgment of all wrong. They decide and the shotgun sings the song.**_

"We're very, very bad people," One started. He kept his voice soft, allowing Eight's music to cover what he was saying. "Who have done some very bad things."

 _ **I'll tip my hat to the new constitution. Take a bow for the new revolution.**_

"This is our chance to put our unique skill set to good use."

 _ **Smile and grin at the change all around. Pick up my guitar and play.**_

"We stand alongside these miners and when Ferrous Corp comes we hurt them. Hurt them so bad they think twice about bothering with this planet…"

 _ **Just like yesterday. Then I'll get on my knees and pray.**_

Six chuckled. He couldn't believe how accurate Two had been. It was like she had been inside One's head all along.

"…What?"

 _ **We don't get fooled again.**_

"You are nothing if not predictable," Six told him. One looked away, humiliation or anger burning just below the surface.

 _ **The change, it had to come. We knew it all along.**_

Six went on, he ignored Eight's voice and the song she was playing. "Two told me you'd say all that, practically word for word."

 _ **We were liberated from the fold, that's all. And the world looks just the same.**_

One folded his arms as Six added, "She also said to do whatever it takes to bring you back with us…" He rested a heavy hand on One's shoulder.

 _ **And history ain't changed. 'Cause the banners, they are flown in the last war.**_

"…Including knocking you out and dragging you back if I have to."

 _ **I'll tip my hat to the new constitution. Take a bow for the new revolution. Smile and grin at the change all around.**_

"Now she did ask me not to hit you in the face though," Six finished with a gentle tap to One's jaw.

 _ **Pick up my guitar and play. Just like yesterday. Then I'll get on my knees and pray. We don't get fooled again.**_

One of the miners that was on guard duty burst into the bar with a harried shout of, "Ferrous Corp is here!" That cut off Eight's song almost mid word. "Ferrous Corp is here," he repeated with dread filling a voice that sounded decidedly sickly.

One stood, as did Three and Four but unlike the others there was a speculative look in his eyes. Six stared at him, hoping the man would see reason, as he gave his head a slight shake. "Hey, hey," he started but One was already darting after the miners. Six scowled darkly as he hefted his shotgun and stood. If One survived this he was going to shoot the man himself.

Dawn un-slung the guitar from her shoulders as she watched the others bolt from the room. "Now that's just rude. If you didn't like the song," she mumbled placing the guitar back in its nook, "you could've just asked me to play something else," she continued as she followed after the others. "Maybe hum a few bars?" She suggested even though no one was close enough to hear her.

/ / /

"Marauder," Two hailed the Marauder again, concern leaching its way into her voice every time she attempted to make contact and they failed to respond. "This is the Raza. Are you there?"

"We might want to consider they've already encountered the Ferrous Corp shuttle," Andi advised her.

Anger began to burn in Two's veins and she let the emotion wash over her. "Patch me through to the destroyer," she ordered Andi as she moved out from behind the counsel.

"Done," Andi replied after only a moment.

"This is the Raza, please respond." She waited a moment, swallowing her fear trying to force her emotions aside but her crew was in trouble. "This is the Raza, please respond," she repeated allowing a bit of her impatience to shine in her voice.

A pompous voice filled the bridge. "This is Commander Nieman of the FCS Destroyer Deliverance. Took you long enough," he pointed out to her. He did not sound like a very pleasant man.

"Apologies," she replied attempting to sound at least passingly contrite. But an idea was beginning to form in the recesses of her mind. A possible way to explain Five and Seven. "What can I do for you Commander?"

"Well you can start by telling me what the hell is going on," he ordered with quite a bit of anger simmering in his voice. "Why you didn't complete your mission, or update us on your status?"

"There were some complications we had to contend with but we have everything under control now," she informed Nieman. "Please have your shuttle fall back," she requested. He wasn't going to go for it but it was the first attempt. Who knows maybe they get lucky, he complies and her people get the hell off the planet and head straight into FTL.

"Negative Raza. Contingency plans have been enacted," he replied in his smug little voice.

How she wanted to choke the life out of him. Instead she responded saying, "Again that won't be necessary Deliverance. This is our show."

"Not anymore it's not," Nieman informed her. "Raza, I'm on my way over to take possession of the acquisition. Be sure it's ready for transport."

There was a certain finality in his voice. As if he had already decided what to do about them. He was going to try and attempt to kill her people on the planet and then kill the miners and play the evil mercenary raided the planet, killing everyone and they, The benevolent Corporation arrived just a little too late but the crew of the Raza was dead. _Why the hell hadn't they come right back after making the delivery? That had been the plan… Drop off the guns and then get the hell out of there._ She should have locked One back in a stasis pod. This entire thing was his fault. She just knew it.

/ / /

The Ferrous Corp Assault Team came to a stop as the high caliber round blew out a chunk of concrete in front of them. "That's far enough," Nassan warned the assault team.

"Is that any way to act?" the team leader, Sergeant Vlask demanded as he stepped closer to the miners pouring out of every little nook. "After Ferrous Corp made you such a generous offer," he didn't know what the offer was nor did he care. His orders were clear.

"Generous?" Keeley whispered in disbelief. "You'd make us slaves on our own land," she growled.

"One last chance to reconsider," Vlask offered. Truth was there were no more chances. These people were all dead.

"Whoa," One breathed out as he rushed between the two groups. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Hold on please. Hold up. No one wants a fight here."

Vlask narrowed his eyes as Corso stopped next to him. "You had a job to do Corso," Vlask said as Ryo came to within an arm's length distant. Boone stopped half a dozen meters away and Jones a hair or two further back. None of the mercenaries were going to leave this planet alive.

One looked to Four and the others. "Well we took some time to think things through and decided on a change of plans. Take your men and leave. Tell your bosses we're with these people now."

"You can't be serious," Vlask said in a deathly quiet tone. "What did they offer you?"

One kept his voice soft, full of menace as he said, "You know us. You know what we're capable of. Think of the losses."

Then Vlask saw Summer stroll out from behind the miners. There were rumors about the woman, but no one knew the truth. She had appeared out of the darkest depths of space, from a place nothing ever came out of, almost twenty years ago and started carving a bloody swath wherever she went. She left nothing but death in her wake.

"It's not worth it," Corso told him.

He knew enough about the original plan to know she wasn't supposed to be out of a stasis unit until after the miners were all dead. Then she would have been captured, charged and executed before any objections could be raised. After all, who was going to object to the execution of a mass murderer and known terrorist? Especially after they had just been caught, with the blood of hundreds on her hands.

"Find another planet," Corso suggested in a tone that wasn't really suggesting.

"What the hell is…?" Vlask grumbled under his breath. His job had just become infinitely more difficult with her presence here.

The man knew something about Eight, something that scared him. One could see the fear in the man's eyes. He probably knew a lot about all of them. "She's a member of our crew," One told him.

Vlask all but laughed as he said, "You're lucky she hasn't…" He took a breath to center himself. If they could take out Summer, than they had a shot at the others. Knowing how Command had procured her would have been a significant advantage. "This isn't my call," he told Corso. "I'll have to take it upstairs," he said with a shrug.

One gave it a moment's thought as he glanced toward the others, he nodded saying, "Fair enough." He turned away, offering Vlask his back.

The sergeant turned, hand going to his sidearm as he shouted, "Take…" As he began to Twist back around. "…Summ –"

Four's sword flashed in the dimness slicing most of the way through Vlask's neck in one swing. A pair of thin, six inch long needles that might have been used to hold a woman's hair in place, sailed through the air with pinpoint accuracy as both punched through the visor of the front two shock troopers and took up permanent residency inside each man's brain. The man on the left flipped over backward with the force of the impact while the trooper on the right staggered back a step before slumping to the ground.

Three grabbed Vlask's body using it as a shield to absorb half a dozen rounds as he sought better cover. One ducked and fired several rounds causing the Ferrous Corp troops to hesitate as he and Four raced across the open space before they were able to duck behind one of the unused ground transports. Six opened fire with his shotgun aiming over the heads of his shipmates but causing the shock troopers to stay low as well.

Dawn moved in the opposite direction hoping to draw a bit of fire away from the miners and the other members of the Raza crew and catch the shock troopers up in a cross fire. A round from her pistol took one trooper in the throat while her rifle put another round through the skull of a second trooper. Then she was sliding in behind a small stack of wooden pallets.

Undeterred the troopers advanced opening up on anything that looked even remotely hostile and a pair of miners went down. Three ducked out from behind his cover and aimed at the front of a large ground transport and opened up, drawing the attention of a trio of troopers, who returned fire and left themselves open to Four as he slipped out from behind the back of the same transport and put down two of the troopers before the third brought his rifle around. The trooper took a round in the knee and side from Three.

Another miner went down from a trooper's heavy weapons barrage as Dawn sprang up, a slim bladed knife slicing through the air, taking the trooper through the side of his throat. Her feet touched the ground just as Six stepped out from behind his cover, a shotgun blast took another trooper in the chest, blowing him back a good three feet. A second blast followed the first taking another trooper in the abdomen.

In those few seconds Eight had closed with a quartet of troopers, a pair of razor sharp nine inch blades against their heavy rifles, high powered pistols and modern body armor. The troopers didn't stand a chance as she cut them apart.

It was a reminder of their first encounter with Andi and Eight's insistence that if they hadn't been stepping all over her she could have taken the Android. He hadn't really believed it at the time, none of them had, but watching her now…

Like all androids Andi was faster and stronger than any human but when she fought it was still robotic. Her movements were still stiff, predictable. Guided by a robot's logic; B should follow A, which in turn should be followed by C… On and on.

Eight though, there was a grace and fluidity to her movements, something natural and a little predatory about the way she fought; not so much about winning as making sure her enemies didn't survive to threaten her again. Plus she was at least as fast and strong as Andi.

If he stopped and thought about it he would be truly terrified by the implications. As things stood now, he was simply glad she was on his side.

The last trooper didn't stand any more of a chance now that he was alone and wounded then he had when it had been four against one. Her physical skills and razor sharp blades against their high powered pistols and rifles. He was still on his feet despite the fact he was bleeding from a deep wound along his left thigh. Blood loss would probably kill him in the next few minutes, but apparently those were a few minutes Eight didn't want him to enjoy as she moved in. Her blades, slick with the blood she had already spilt, flashed in the dim light as she moved in opening up his left forearm as he made a grab for her. He pulled his arm back and she darted in, slipping under his right side where she opened a deep slice under his right ribs. Her foot lashed out and snapped his right knee as she twirled in a tight circle, her blades crossing under his throat and she jerked back hard, nearly separating his head from his shoulders.

From somewhere close by he heard someone empty their stomach. He turned away, in a far off corner of his mind he wished the display made him feel something even remotely close to uncomfortable, but the truth was he knew it was probably a better end then any of those troopers deserved, certainly better than what they had planned for the miners.

He turned back when he heard Three say, "Missed a spot." And saw him indicating a bit of gore still clinging to Eight's cheek. With a slight shake of his head he climbed up onto the roof of the troop transport and opened the hatch pointing his shotgun at the young trooper's head. Suppressing his desire to simply blow the man's brains out, _who knew what intel he might provide_ , he said, "Shut the hell up."

He pulled the trooper out of the transport and shoved the man in front of him as the others began to gather around. Three looked around at the carnage with a wide smile and said, "That actually went better than I thought it would."

Eight had a second trooper's helmet off, her hatchet twirled in her hand before she brought it down and cleaved the top of the man's skull off. She caught the severed chunk of bone and brain before it rolled very far away then shoved her finger into the brain and rooted around for several seconds before plucking out the six inch needle from his skull. There was the sound of someone emptying their stomach as Eight glance at One. With a bit of a smirk she said, "Did you want to get it for me?"

One grimaced slightly as he answered, "No."

Eight placed the needle at the crease of the dead trooper's elbow, folded the joint and then pulled the deadly projectile through cleaning it off before she slide the needles back through her hair in a messy sort of bun.

/ / /

Five dropped down out of the crawlspace and into another small storage space. Quickly stacking a few of the crates against the wall so it would be easier for Seven to climb out of the vent; which he did less than a minute later. "Thanks," he said as she helped him down.

"You'd do the same for me," she answered. Five didn't know why but the comment, it felt right to her. Who knows, maybe they had been friends in a previous life.

Seven flashed Five a grin that made him appear even younger. His gaze fell on a leather satchel that must have been hiding behind one of the steel crates she moved. It wasn't much bigger than the Total Recall case they had confiscated from Eight's room. Only, how had it gotten there? Picking it up he showed it to Five. "Feels like there're tools inside," he said as he undid a pair of straps and flipped open the supple leather lid revealing maybe two dozen different sized gages and picks, from extremely slim and delicate looking to a few that were much more robust.

"Are those lock-picks?" Five asked.

"I think so," Seven answered as he knelt down next to one of the locked crates and pulled out a pair of the tools that simply felt right. He checked out the picks, looked over the lock with a faraway look in his eyes and then set to work. Within moments the lock clicked open and he stared at it.

Five stared at the lock, than at Seven. A broad smile blossomed on her face as Seven sat back on the floor staring at the lock he just opened. "I think we just found out something about you," Five said as she sat beside Seven as she draped her arm over his shoulder.

"That my name has a T and a J in it," he said showing her the satchel with the letters TJ burned into it.

"Okay, two things," Five correct. "Your name's TJ and you're really good at opening locks."

"Unless that was just beginner's luck?" Seven pointed out.

"Wanna find out?" Five asked as she got up and pushed another steel crate over to him.

He looked up at Five with a smile, than looked back down at the crate and his grin got even bigger. He quickly studied the lock and began manipulating the tumblers. In about the same amount of time he had another crate opened and he let out a short bark of a laugh.

/ / /

"You were hired to do a job," Nieman said in a crisp voice. His eyes were cold and hard, and his face was impassive but Two cold see the anger seething just under the surface of his impassionate veneer.

Unlike Nieman, Two didn't try to hide her anger as she said, "Like I said… Complications arose."

"So you already explained," he said. If the loss of his acquisition troubled Nieman he gave no indication of it. Two only wished the commander had given her some indication what else she might have been hauling for Ferrous Corp. They were going to have to pull the Raza apart from bow to stern to make sure there weren't any more surprises tucked away somewhere. "They have also continued to do so. Apparently on my way over here I received word that we suffered casualties on the planet," he informed her. His tone made it clear he didn't care about any of the men he lost.

There wasn't really much she could say to that but she still threw out a half hearted, "Yeah well, I'm sorry to hear that."

"And that your team was responsible." There was a smug quality to the way he just sort of dropped that in there. What she wouldn't give to wipe that arrogance clean off his face. "Ours is a… Cut throat business. In this sector alone I'm competing with six other multi-corps with planetary resources. Our major rival, The Mikkei Combine have been particularly aggressive. The discovery of that Terrarium vein is a major coup. One the company seeks to start exploiting immediately, that planet is the only hospitable world in range."

"Then maybe you should have started with a fair offer instead of trying to bully the miners into submission," Two snarled.

"I didn't come here to talk about what we can do for them. I came here to discuss what we can do for you," Nieman said with a predatory light in his eyes. He would have gladly slit her throat if he believed he would live through the attempt.

"I'm listening," she stated.

"You took payment in advance and then failed to complete the job," he said. Two scowled at the fact she had lost sight of that particular detail. Not having any memories was going to come back and bite her in the ass more often then she wanted to acknowledge. "That's bad business. Lucky for you I'm feeling generous today. I'm willing to call it even."

"In exchange for?" He didn't want to take on the Raza, not now when it was a straight up one on one fight.

"Turn this ship around. Leave immediately."

"That's it…? Just walk away?" Something bad was going to happen.

"What's about to happen on that planet… Well, it would be better if there are no witnesses," he confided as if he had all the answers.

Two hated the idea of what she knew was about to happen. Only there weren't any alternatives. Not now. Not that she could see. Five and Seven were going to hate her. The others, they would all understand. They would all make the same decision in her place. "I still have people down there."

"No. They made their choice. They opened fire on Ferrous Corp personal. They have to answer for that. I suggest you don't make the same mistake." He smirked at her. "If it makes it easier I'm willing to throw in a bonus. Just for you." As if he knew exactly what she would do.

It was time to play the part. "How much?" She would leave her people to die the day after hell froze over.

/ / /

Dawn followed the four men onto the shuttle. There was something gnawing at her gut, as if she should be doing something more. The miner… Nassan had called him Hagen, his words flogged at her. He had been wrong about her, she wasn't a coward. She faced death and worse, well more times than she could remember. But this also wasn't her fight.

"Let's get the hell off this rock," Three said as he dropped into the copilot's chair.

Six began flipping switches running what she assumed was preflight checks. After a moment he frowned. "Um," he started in a strained voice. "We've got a problem," he said.

"What?" One asked.

"The ship," Six said. "It's not there."

"What do you mean it's not there?" Three asked as One stood up, leaning over Six's shoulder to get a look at the display panel.

"I'm telling you it's not there," Six said again. Panic riding hard in his voice. "The Raza's gone."

"She wouldn't just up and leave us. Not without a good reason," Dawn told the others. She didn't know why she was so confident in her assessment of Two but she knew it felt right.

/ / /

"I am so sorry," Nassan said sincerely. The man truly felt guilt over the fact they were stuck on the planet with them. "We lead you into this. If you hadn't taken the time to give us those weapons you never would have been caught down here."

"We wanted to help," One said… Dawn grimaced at One's back as another fun fact about herself slid into place. She truly hated when she was right about people… "Still do."

"This isn't your fight," Keeley countered.

"It is now," Six disagreed.

Nassan still looked guilty as he glanced over at Keeley. "Well…" He began turning his attention back to the crew. "I can't tell a man how to live his life. I'm not going to tell him how to end it."

Hesitantly Keeley said, "Okay. So we can use some fresh eyes on the perimeter. Patrol's growing mighty thin. We have no way to anticipate when or where this next attack will come."

Dawn stood up. "Guess I've just been volunteered," she said. Glancing at the two leaders she added, "Your people will probably never even see me, but just in case make sure they know a friendly is out there." She headed for the exit without a backward glance.

"Shouldn't somebody go with her?" Keeley asked.

"Only if they want to play the part of decoy," Three told them. "Trust us. Ferrous Corp will never know she's there until they're all dead," he said with a smile thinking of all the different ways she was going to kill them.

"We need some fresh intelligence," Four said. He turned away, making his way to were the prisoner was being held. "I think I might know a way to get it?" He opened the door and entered the room stripping off his coat. Several others waited further down the hall.

The low ranking Ferrous Corp trooper sneered at Four. "Double crossing us was a big mistake. You and your friends are going to die." Four could see the fear in the man's eyes. Almost smell it on him.

"How?" It was a simple question asked without emotion. "How are we going to die?"

The trooper tried to maintain the fiction that he was in control, that he somehow had the power. "Choking on your own blood," he bragged.

If the trooper was expecting to see fear he was going to be disappointed. With a calm almost dispassionate voice Four asked, "Could you be more specific?" The question probably wasn't close to what the man expected from him.

"We're going to line you up and shoot the lucky ones. The rest, like you, we'll gut." He tried to keep his air of confidence as Four turned his back but Four could hear the cracks in his voice.

"No," Four said as he reached the wall. He turned back regarding the trooper with dark, curious eyes. "That's not it." Four stared at the trooper as if he were just beginning to see a puzzle that interested him. "You could have done that from the beginning. Stormed this facility, execute everyone in it. You have the men, the resources. But you didn't." He took a few slow steps back toward the door. "You hired us to do your dirty work instead. Plausible deniability?" He turned back, almost looking amused. "A mining colony wiped out by mercenaries. It's unfortunate but it's not surprising. A mining colony wiped out by a corporation, well that's scandalous."

"We can make a deal," the trooper declared sounding nervous.

Four stepped back toward him, anger in his posture. "You want the miners gone without being directly implicated in their deaths and you wouldn't be here unless you had a plan to make that happen."

"If you let me go, I can guarantee your safety," the trooper promised. Four drew his sword, the soft whisper of steel being unsheathed filled the small space. Turning toward the trooper Four allowed a half smirk to play across his lips as he tested the edge of the in front of the trooper. "I don't know anything," the trooper confessed.

"You were neither briefed nor giving orders, transported down here to the planet and expected to improvise," Four extrapolated. Some of it was almost believable, Commanders weren't known for explaining the inner workings of their actions to low ranking peons. But that the man didn't have the vaguest inkling about the new plan stretched the realm of believability.

"I can tell you from experience… Torture doesn't work."

"Torture is often ineffective," Four extrapolated. "Even counterproductive," he added. "On the other hand…" He stepped well within the Troopers personal space. "…I personally find it incredibly cathartic," he confessed with something close to exhilaration dripping from his voice as the trooper flinched away.

The man would have confessed to nearly everything he could think of and Four smiled at the fact he never had to touch the man and while he didn't actually know the specifics of their mission, he'd been on enough missions similar enough that he had an idea as to what Ferrous Corp was going to attempt. He stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. The others had left, possibly back to the bar where Nassan and some of the other miners had set up an emergency HQ.

"They plan on targeting your reactor," he said stepping into the headquarters. "Trigger a blast that'll level this entire facility."

A few minutes later the group was descending into the bowels of the reactors core with Nassan leading the way. "The Mark IV fusion reactor," he said as they climbed down an extended flight of stairs. "Standard equipment for a mining colony… About fifty years ago. Now-a-days we can barely find spare parts to keep it running."

"It's the perfect cover," One said as the group took in the core. "Outdated technology. Ill equipped minors who don't know what they're doing. It's an accident waiting to happen."

"We'll never be able to hold this position," Six told the others as they looked around. "Not for long anyway."

"At least we'll die fighting," Four said somewhere between resigned to the prospect and angry knowing this was a fight he couldn't win.

/ / /

"Corso to Dawn," One called over the radio. Much as he hated who he had been he couldn't risk the Miners discovering they weren't exactly who they claimed to be. "Come in Dawn," he said in a whisper soft voice. He didn't even know if Eight had her radio turned on, if she was out doing what he suspected, having her radio off was the safer option. Still he needed her to stop Six. He couldn't stand idly by and let the man throw his life away. "Corso to Dawn," he called again, frustration building in his voice.

"Call me again," Eight's voice cut through the static. "I'm going to shove that radio in an orifice…"

"Griffin is going to do something really… Kind of brave and heroic and just a little suicidal." Silence was his only answer. "His plan is to take the Marauder up and take out Ferrous Corp's ship.

"Sounds like a good plan," she said with a note of approval. "Now listen up, pull the perimeter guard, all but a handful. When Ferrous Corp hits I want them to withdraw. Have them pull back but keep their attention. I'll be coming in hot on their heels. We'll catch them between the two of us. Should be able to take out the first wave without too many losses and if Jones' plan works we'll only have two more squads to deal with."

"I don't—"

"He's sacrificing himself to give the rest of us a chance," she cut him off. There was a degree of anger in her voice but also a certain amount of respect. "A chance none of us probably deserve. It's up to us to make the most of it." There was a moment's silence before her voice came back. "Now follow my orders and get those troops pulled back. We want Ferrous Corp to think we're totally outgunned and outmanned."

/ / /

"It's Bubba time," Three said as he readied his sonic rifle. There was a nearly almost serene, peaceful gleam in his eyes.

A small, confused frown creased One's brow as he asked, "Who's Bubba?"

Three tapped the controls on the rifle as he set the weapon. "This is Bubba." He took in the confused look on One's face and asked, "What you don't name your guns? Ah well, this is Bubba," he draw one pistol adding, "this is Lulu and the other one's Pip."

"And what do you name the knife you keep in your boot?" One inquired.

Three frowned at him as he said, "I don't name the knife in my boot. Do I look like Eight. She calls her little hair pins the Cuckoo Sisters. Now that's just psycho."

/ / /

Keeley's voice came over the radio informing them that Ferrous Corp had made contact and that her team was falling back to the reactor room. She hadn't seen Dawn yet, but One was confident in the blonde's ability to remain hidden. She had a stealth mode on par with a security model android.

Three scowled at the news and shared a glance with Four. "He didn't make it," he said. It had been a long shot to begin with. Still it would have been a hell of a way to go; one piss ant shuttle taking out a Ferrous Corp destroyer.

"Position people," One shouted as he and the others moved to their prearranged positions. The miners quickly following suit.

/ / /

There was a sense of calm and peace at her core as she stashed another Ferrous Corp body into a dark alcove to prevent it from being discovered. This was what she had been meant for. A euphoric sort of peace; she had felt it briefly during the skirmish when she carved her way through the four troopers. They had been little more trouble than spanking a baby's behind.

From a hundred meters ahead she could hear the first sounds of gunfire. Slipping Clarice back into the sheath at the small of her back she drew one of her pistols and unslung her rifle. Now was the time to sow the confusion. The sound of two different weapons coming from behind them would force them to split their forces because they wouldn't be sure they hadn't stumbled head long into a crossfire.

She opened fire on the two troopers bringing up the rear and dropped both and [spun away into a cross section before any of the Ferrous Corp Troopers spotted her. "They're behind us," one of the hardened soldiers shouted and she could hear a number of them break off from the main assault.

With a sort of casualness she jumped up, easily clearing fifteen feet. Her right foot hit the wall and she pushed off clearing another dozen feet where she landed in a crouch deep in a shadowed nook of crooked piping. Four guards came down the corridor and she waited as two more followed them in. She opened up on the four with her rifle, dropping the entire group with a tightly packed burst while her pistol found their armor's weak points and tore into the two further away. Staying up high she raced along the piping with barely the slightest wisp of a sound. She emptied her rifle's clip into a pair of troopers before she dropped to the floor thirty feet below, landing between another pair of Ferrous Corp Troopers. Neither man stood any chance against her, one died when the webbing between her thumb and first finger crushed his wind pipe, leaving him gasping for air. The other when her elbow smashed into the back of his neck severing his spinal column.

"Hey! Hey!" Voss shouted. "Stand down! Now, or I execute yo…" Whatever else he had been going to say ended the moment Shenandoah slid into his neck. He dropped to his knees choking on his own blood.

One of the other troopers turned, aimed his rifle at Six but he grabbed Voss and pulled the trooper's body in front of his and used the dying man as a shield to absorb the multiple impacts from the high powered weapon. Shoving Voss forward Six quickly closed with the trooper. He pulled the heavy dagger free and slammed it into the other man's ribs. Pulling it out he struck again as he shoved the rifle away.

/ / /

Dawn didn't know why Two hadn't ratted her out. But she hadn't. Five and Seven were being remarkably quiet as well. And Andi, well she was Andi. This needed to be done though. A situation this volatile, any secret could be the match that set it off the powder keg. "There's something else I have to tell you," she informed the group as a whole. Eight sets of eyes turned towards her reminding Eight just how much she did not like being the center of attention.

"Well come on," Three said. "Whatever it is just spit it out. It's not like we got all day here," he stopped frowned and then corrected himself. "Second thought yeah we do."

Dawn smiled at his irreverent humor. A day ago she never would have believed out of everyone on board he would be the one capable of making her crack a smile. For the moment though she quashed the feeling, it wasn't going to help her. Taking a breath she finally said, "I think I'm at least partially responsible for the memory wipe."

/ / /

Two stepped into the room Five had taken as her own. Like Eight the girl left the door open as if she were inviting anyone to come in. Five was busy drawing, sketching actually. A number of rough drawings had been strewn across her bed. Five was actually really good.

Suppressing the crews reaction to Eight's revelation Two knocked on the steel frame, causing Five to jump slightly as she looked up. "Am I interrupting?" She asked.

"No, I'm just drawing," Five answered as she bent back over the sketch pad.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah sure," Five answered.

Two crossed to the foot of the bed and sat. "Earlier today you said someone was responsible for wiping our memories?" Five agreed with a soft sound as she continued her sketch. "Why do you think that?"

"I… I don't think. I know," Five answered looking up from her drawing.

"How do you know?" Two asked.

There was a distant look in Five's eyes as she said, "I remember."

"Remember what," Two pressed. "Exactly?"

"Waking up in the middle of the night and uploading the program into the stasis core. Planting the virus while everyone else was sleeping."

"You remember doing this?"

"No, not me," Five said. "It was someone else."

"Who?" Two demanded with anger straining her voice.

Five frowned slightly as she tried to draw up an image. "It's like I'm remembering it for them."

"And do you remember why this person wiped our memories?" Two question.

"Yeah," Five said. "Because we're dangerous."

Interesting little fact: When I was coming up with names for some of Buffy's weapons I knew who the Stepford Cuckoos were, and the reference to Clarice from Silence of the Lambs, but the name Shenandoah caught me by surprise when I was trying to figure out how it was spelt. Turns out it is actually a TV show, a sixty western I believe about a cowboy who was shot in the head (a graze), left for dead, obviously he lives but doesn't remember who he is, who shot him or anything about his life before waking up. Don't think it last a season. Doesn't really have anything to do with the story, I just found it to be interesting.


	3. Harder to Breathe

Author: Bastille Kain

Title: God Shuffled His Feet

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters of any show or other medium; comics, movies, and books that are unfortunate enough to be used here all belong to other people. Again I own nothing and make no profit from these writings.

Spoilers: Anything and everything.

Summary: Buffy/Dark Matter Crossover. It is long and complex. The short of it is Buffy wakes up aboard the Raza as a member of its crew. Just like everyone else she has no memories of her life before waking up.

Pairings:

Rating: MA-18. Just to play it safe. Eventually there is going to be adult themed subject matter, gratuitous violence and explicit sexual scenes not to mention strong language.

Feedback: Is always appreciated.

Archive: If you like it that much, sure. Just be sure to let me know where it's going, and give me the credit, good or bad, for my work.

Musical Note: I like to use song titles or lyrics for story names and chapter titles. God Shuffled His Feet: The Crash Test Dummies. Harder to Breathe: Maroon 5. Crazy Little Thing Called Love: Queen.

Author Note: Sorry about the extremely long break between postings, sometimes life can get relatively hectic. Between work, school, and loads of doctor appointments and getting caught up in another story idea that pretty much consumed me for almost a month, a Buffy/Last of Us it ain't nowhere near ready, actually want to finish it before I start posting anything, hopefully it will be done before Part 2 is released. Got near a hundred pages written so far, almost a quarter of the way done. Anyway my brother finally finished proof reading this and offering some helpful suggestions some of which I took, some I ignored since he doesn't watch the show or really a lot of TV. Right now he's working on the next section of Come As You Are, then the second chapter to Wonderwall, another part of The Real Me. Also have a Buffy/Arrow crossover that I'm fiddling around with didn't really care for certain parts so I'm going to re-work them, see if I can get a better fit. There's also a Buffy/Blacklist idea rattling around in my head but I'm just jotting down thoughts for that right now. There are a couple other things lurking around in the dark recesses of what passes for my brain. Enough of my meanderings. Hope you all enjoy the story.

Enjoy the Story,

Kain

God Shuffled His Feet

Chap Three: Harder to Breathe

"Good morning everyone. Here is your report from the bridge," Andi began from her station on the bridge. Her hands were clasped behind her back as she stared out the viewports. It was an aesthetically pleasant view watching the star field stream past at FTL speed. "I hope you all are enjoying a hearty breakfast. The ship's engines are operating within acceptable parameters. At our current rate of travel we should be arriving at the space station in approximately twenty-six hours and seven seconds."

/ / /

"Exactly one hour earlier since the last time she updated us," Three grumbled to the other five members of the crew sharing the table with him as he scraped another forkful of food off his plate. "One hour ago. Thank you robot," he added. "Since none of you want to deal with the problem, this is what's gonna happen when we hit the station. Hock the ship, split the profits. Have a fond farewell toast. Bid each other adieu." He shoveled his food into his mouth and took a look around when his plan was meant with silence. Seeing the look on the others' faces he mumbled, "No?"

With a bit of hesitancy One asked, "You want to split up?"

Three shrugged as he swallowed what he had been chewing, "Yeah. We're eight strangers and a robot. We don't owe each other anything. And just so none of us forget one of us knew this was going to happen and you're all too squeamish to do what needs to be done."

"We're not spacing anyone," Two reminded them. "We all agreed…"

"No you decided and they fell in line," Three reminded everyone. With an ambivalent shrug he added, "But hey, I've moved past that."

"We're a team," Five said. Together they were stronger. Alone they would be easy pickings considering who they were, the enemies they must have made during their long and illustrious careers.

Three shot her an almost amused look. She had the feeling he saw her in the same light he saw Eight even if he was unaware of their connection. "No offense… This team has a lot of dead weight on it."

Six glanced at Three with a mildly annoyed expression. "Offense taken."

"Once we get to the station," Two said cutting off any more argument. At least she hoped her decision would bring an end to this particular debate. "We going to refuel, resupply, and repair. I'll be happy to give anyone that wants to leave their cut of the profits but we're not selling the ship."

"Ain't up to her," Three said attempting to rally support for his cause.

"I don't want to sell the ship," One said beginning to stand. He dropped his tray on top of Three's

"Me neither," Five informed the others as she stood and brought her tray over to the basin.

"Me neither," Six added. Like One he stood and placed his empty tray on top of Three's.

"Okay, yeah…" Three said as Six gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "…Alright." With everyone else out of the galley Three leaned close to Four and whispered, "You know if we just stick together…" Four took a final forkful before placing his tray on top of the pile now sitting in front of three. "Alright. That's fine," he rocked back slightly. "It's what I wanted anyway," he added digging an uneaten roll from one of the plates. "Little peace and quiet…" he murmured as he began devouring the roll.

/ / /

Moving with all the speed of a glacier Eight worked her way through the kata, concentrating on precision over speed and power. She made each movement perfect for her body. Every person was different; no two were perfectly identical so no two people could do the form exactly alike.

" _ **Past me knew," she told her shipmates after they had gathered in the galley.**_

The room had become their unofficial meeting hall, especially at meal time. She could still hear the words as she made her admission to the rest of the crew the night before. There was more than a hint of anxious fear in her voice. Not over what they could do to her, not physically, even if Andi aided them. Not a guarantee if she avoided using lethal force. She could take out the entire crew in a matter seconds. Events on the planet below had shown her just what she was capable of.

" _ **Knew what?" Three asked as he loaded a small bowl up with a thick stew made with a medley of vegetables the miners had given them and a few protein packs.**_

Circling to the left on a bent knee she moved into the next position. Transferring most of her weight onto her front leg, her left hand pushed a punch out of the way, her fingers applying pressure to the forearm she pictured there as she pulled her imaginary opponent out of position. The heel of her right foot rising up to meet a pretend crotch even as her weight shifted forward and her right fist reached out and drove the knuckle of her first finger into the imaginary eyeball.

" _ **The memory wipe," she said softly.**_

 _ **Four shook his head even as Three said, "Bullshit!" His lambastic temper coming to the forefront.**_

" _ **If you had foreknowledge of the incident," Four began leaving his emotions out of the accusation.**_

" _ **It would make sense that I'm responsible," Eight agreed.**_

 _ **Three slammed his tray onto the table, chunks of the stew sloshing over the side. "You're responsible for why I have no idea about who I am?" His hand itched to draw his gun. How he wished Bubba was still with him instead of back in his room charging. He'd like to see her get back up after he hit her with a full charge.**_

" _ **No she isn't," Five shot back. "I was there when the massage first played. Eight's been just as affected**_ __ _ **as the rest of us. The person that knew about the memory wipe is gone."**_

" _ **Looks like she's standing right in front of me," Three shot back before he stormed out of the galley with a glare at Eight.**_

 _ **One stared at her for a moment before he said, "I don't know if I should be as pissed as Three or thanking you…?" He said in whisper soft voice as he put his own unfilled tray back in the pile with all the rest and then followed Three out of the galley.**_

 _ **Four grunted as he filled his tray. "What's done is done," he told the others.**_

 _ **Eight heard the anger in his voice, barely suppressed, and knew it was going to be awhile before she would be able to let her guard down around him…**_ **Which will make sparring with him all that much more interesting…** _ **? She scowled to herself while managing to keep the expression off her face. There had to be something seriously screwed up with her to even be contemplating sparring with a man who at this very moment was plotting her death.**_

 **Gruesome and grisly** _ **, she had no doubt.**_

" _ **Well?" She demanded of Jones. Everyone else had made their feelings about her abundantly clear. Still there was too much hostility in her tone. Angry at herself and deflecting it onto other people. Was this the type of person she had been before?**_

 _ **Six put up his hands, not in surrender but more as if he was placating a petulant child. "I'm not too happy about what you did… What you might have done? The old me probably would've done something stupid, like try to kill you –"**_

" _ **But new you isn't?"**_

" _ **That all depends on what I lost," Six told her.**_

Someone watching her pulled Eight all the way out of her memory. "Making any progress?" She asked Five without altering the pace of her kata as she executed an intricate series of kicks and strikes that ended with her right leg behind her, the ball of her foot and toes are all that is making contact with the floor's cushioned surface and her shin almost touching the mat while her left foot is lined up perfectly with her hip and her foot is firmly planted in front of her with her knee directly over her ankle. Her arms were crossed at the wrist, not directly over her head but more at a five degree angle.

"A bit," Five answered as Eight slowly altered her stance. Her torso turned about a hundred and sixty-five degrees as her feet shifted, her right flattening and turning facing the same direction she was now looking, her knee coming to rest over her ankle while her left foot remained flat on the mat, the heel jutted out to the back but remained in line with her hips, her toes at almost a hundred and thirty-five degree angle as her arms slid along her body going from closed fist to rigid tiger claws. For such a tiny woman there was the sense of raw barely contained power inside of her. "TJ's stripping down a bunch of components. Figure it'll take over an hour or so," she updated the tiny blonde.

They had all agreed Eight would keep her distance. There was no telling what little surprises Eight's predecessor might have left for them.

"And since everyone else is busy you decided to take pity on your dear old mum?" Eight inquired as her right hand slashed across an imaginary opponents face. A moment later her left hand raked upward and then both hands raked in opposite directions right going left and left slashing right. Then as if it appeared out of nothingness her back foot delivered what would have been a devastating front kick.

Five whistled appreciatively at the display. "I wouldn't say everyone else…?"

"That's only because you didn't check Three," Eight cut in as she relaxed.

Stepping into the gym Five gave a hefty sounding snort as she said, "Considering he wouldn't lose a moments sleep spacing me right along with you, I figured its best not to tempt him with any unnecessary opportunities."

Eight smirked at the comment enjoying the moment. Unfortunately moments couldn't last forever. "Come here," she beckoned Five as she took a short pull of water from the bottle, as she tried not to think about where the water aboard the ship came from. "If you're going to be staying on board Three is right about one thing. Everyone is going to need to pull their weight. You and TJ need to learn how to handle yourself in a tight spot –"

"I'm the tech girl…" Five countered.

"Which is great," Eight cut Five off. "This life though. Travelling on this ship with this crew. We're all wanted fugitives… Smugglers and pirates. Murders and assassins." There was a wisp of sadness in her voice, regret smoldering in her eyes. Five watched with a bit of fascination as Eight shoved those emotions aside; locking them away in some sort of mental vault and focused on the task she set herself. The way, the level at which she was able to compartmentalize worried the young girl.

 _Was it an aspect left over from her previous life_? Five couldn't help but wonder. _Are the people we were still inside of us? Is it like what I told Andi? Is it as simple as a reboot or is Eight different because of how old she is?_

"A lot of people are going to be gunning for us," Eight told Five. "We're not even going to know who most of them are. They're going to come at us through our weakest links –"

"Me and TJ," Five said softly. The words felt like they were whispered on a bitter autumn breeze.

"You and TJ," Eight agreed.

Five exhaled as she looked towards the ceiling. "It means turning what most people perceive as a weakness into a strength."

Eight nodded at Five's statement. "When we get to the station I plan on taking TJ to the shooting range, get him up to speed on handling a firearm," she said leading a slightly hesitant Five out towards the mat. "Copy me," she said standing in front of Five. Then she settled into a basic stance and said, "Like this."

Five attempted to copy the stance. It looked simple enough. Feet shoulder width apart, knees bent so her hamstrings were parallel to the floor, back straight, fist pulled back so they were under her shoulders. Everything about it felt wrong and her legs were already starting to burn.

"Good," Eight said. "Now, follow me. We'll start with our right hand," She instructed moving her right fist forward, turning it over right before her arm was fully extended she twisted her fist so her knuckles were now facing the ceiling instead of the floor. She began to pull her right fist back, her fist twisting back over, as her left moved forward. Just as her right fist settled back against her side she twisted her left fist so the knuckles were facing the ceiling. "Good. This is a Horse stance or a Basic stance and the punch is called a front punch. As you throw the punch you want to make sure you pivot your waist, that's where you're going to generate your power. You want to make sure your stance stays nice and low, it'll build the strength in your legs which will help you generate more power…"

The entire time she was talking she kept throwing punches; right left, right left, right left. Her waist pivoting as she stayed in her stance, her legs solid and strong never wavering. Five felt like she was going to collapse any second with how much her legs were burning from the inside. She had no idea how long she stayed rooted to the spot throwing one punch after another, but eventually Eight told her stop, to remain exactly as she was while she stood up and studied Five for a moment before altering her stance, forcing her lower and deeper, pushing her torso back so she was standing straighter instead of leaning forward. Then she moved adjusting her hips and shoulders so that they were back in alignment.

"There we go," Eight said as rivulets of sweat dripped from Five's brow, ran down her cheeks, and fell from the tip of her nose. "Relax," she finally said allowing Five to stand up. "Wasn't bad. Holding a horse stance for almost five minutes." For some reason she sounded rather pleased. "I hope getting TJ over his fear of guns is just as easy?"

"How do you know…?"

"Please," Eight scoffed at the question. "It's plain as sunrise cresting over the horizon."

"You remember what a sunrise looks like?" Five asked.

With a shrug Eight said, "Well… No. But it sounds really pretty."

Five gave her head a small shake. "Why aren't you taking me as well?" She asked with maybe a hint of jealousy coloring her tone.

"We're going to get Three…" She paused seeing the look on Five's face. Before the younger girl could object the older woman explained her reasoning. _We need to bind him to us_. The thought flittered through her mind but she quickly shoved it away. _I'm not that person, I don't want to be her_. She all but growled to herself. As she handed Five the water bottle she said, "He needs to see you as something other than deadweight. Someday, he might come to appreciate your computer skills but right now he is totally a live in the moment kind of guy."

Five certainly didn't like it, being used to manipulate someone else but she could see Eight's point. She certainly wasn't all that threatening. Following Eight's lead she only took a small drink of the semi cool liquid before handing the bottle back. Eight secured the cap and then lead Five to the center of the mat. Quickly settling back into her stance, Eight demonstrated two more types of punches to go along with the front punch; a back punch and a thrust. The back was really simple, a shot straight to the jaw with her knuckles still facing the floor while the thrust punch was thrown into the crotch and her fist was twisted so her thumb was facing the ceiling while her knuckles faced the wall.

Eight had her throw about twenty-five of each and then twenty-five in sequence; Front, back, and thrust. After each set Eight allowed a short break, a minute or so to get a quick drink and to stretch her legs. Twenty minutes later Five was drenched in sweet, it dripped from her brow and her shirt was soaked. She felt as if somebody had wrung her inside out and twisted her muscles into knots.

"You did good," Eight complemented her.

Five snorted at the remark even though she could feel heat in her cheeks that had absolutely nothing to do with how hard she has been working. She was about to comment when a third presence made himself known to her, though she was fairly certain Eight had known Four was there all along. "You should be proud of what you accomplished today," he said with something close to approval in his voice.

"Thanks," Five said as she turned to face Four. He wasn't like Three. He was hard to read with the way he kept his emotions bottled up. In a way he was more like Eight than she was. "I thought you were busy?"

Four looked at her for a brief second, there was a flash of a smirk in his eyes. "And now I'm not," he informed her. There was a moment where he seemed ready to add something. It passed too quickly and he refocused his attention on Eight. "When you're finished instructing your pupil, if you're still interested in sparring…"

"No attempts to kill me?" Eight cut in.

"I think we both know attempting to kill you would be foolish," he said in a flat tone.

Eight graced him with a tight smile that didn't actually reach her eyes. "I doubt if that has ever stopped anyone before, but what the hell. Give me fifteen minutes, there are still a couple of more things I need to go over with Five. Then I'm all yours."

/ / /

His body was sore as he headed back to his quarters, but in a good way. Eight proved to be an excellent sparring partner, pushing him hard and forcing him to adapt his technique to her unorthodox style. She seemed to sense, or perhaps knew how he was going to attack long before he did and after about fifteen minutes of futility she told him his attacks were predictable… That someone of average speed could defeat the fastest if the later always followed the same predictable patterns.

Forms were a helpful teaching tool, she told him, but they were created as a way to teach and instruct, to mark achievement and the mastering of certain skills. Just to prove her point she'd forgo using her enhanced speed and strength and just to make it interesting they agreed to wager, the best two out of three rounds. If he managed to win she would act as his personal valet for a week if she won he would help with training TJ. If he believed for a single second she used her enhanced abilities it would be considered a forfeiture on her behalf and he would get a valet for a week. She had beaten him and done so with relative ease.

Three stepped up beside him, as if he had simply been formed from a wisp of smoke. The man could be stealthy when he wanted. A small, amused smirk crept into the corner of the man's lips but he kept his mouth shut as they walked side by side. For all of about two seconds and then he asked, "You busy?"

Four remained silent. Whatever Three wanted he would get to it eventually. He wasn't the sort to keep things bottled up. In a way they were about as opposite as two people could be.

"Listen, I need you to help swing the vote. Get the others to sell the ship so that we can all cash out," Three said.

"What makes you think I want to do that?"

"Well because selling the ship allows us the freedom to chart are own courses. Call our own shots. Come on man, instead of letting these losers decide for us, let's cut them loose man," Three pitched his plan.

"It's too soon," Four said.

Three frowned as he questioned Four's observation. "What are you talking about?"

"We don't know enough about who they are. Who we are?" Strategizing came easy to him. "The person that I was chose to be on this ship, he must have had a reason."

"You don't even know you chose to be on this ship," Three countered.

The sound of their boots on the deck sounded loud to his ears. "The clearest path hasn't presented itself yet. Until it does I stay," Four told him as they reached the door to his quarters.

"All right," Three said with a slight nod. He began to turn away.

Four's voice stopped him as he informed the other man of his intentions. "But if the day should come when I'm no longer pleased with this arrangement." Perhaps it was a bit arrogant, confiding in this total stranger. "Even then, I wouldn't sell the ship. I'd take it. For myself."

Three nodded as Four entered his room and the door slid shut behind him. Of everyone on this ship Four just might be the most arrogant, with the possible exception of One, but Four lacked One's holier than thou, self righteous indignation which was apparently the only thing required to go from loathing someone to respecting them.

/ / /

The plain salad had an extremely bland flavor to it. It could barely be called a salad, just some lettuce, carrots, and a diced-up tomato. It was plain because the Raza lacked the necessary ingredients to make a proper dressing, or any dressing if she was being honest. Taking another bite Eight frowned as she crunched into the leafy green… What she wouldn't give for some spicy Italian, something with a bit of a kick.

Drawing closer was the soft, steady tread of a confident woman and since there were only two of them onboard at the moment. "So, how many people want to kill me?" She inquired with what she was realizing was her normal delicacy as Two stepped into the galley.

The brunette smirked at the question as she strode past the blonde and retrieved a container of water from the storage unit. Turning she took a small drink before resting her buttocks on the counters edge. Lowering the bottle she said, "Just about all of them. Three being the most vocal. One doesn't trust you…"

"I don't think One has ever trusted me," Eight said.

Two shrugged at the statement. Out of all of them only Five and TJ belong here less than One. For whatever reason One just didn't seem to fit his profile. Still maybe this was the way One would have been if his life had gone in a different direction. "Four might be the one you have to watch out for the most. He's a planner and patient. I have the feeling he doesn't mind waiting to get his revenge."

"Pretty sure I've already redirected Four's… Focus," Eight said poking at a carrot that she found just mildly irritating. "We had a bit of a talk a few hours ago and he agreed not to kill me." She picked the carrot up with her fingers and popped into her mouth as Two arched an expressive eyebrow at her. Eight exhaled as she munched down on the vegetable. "O'kay, he didn't actually come out and say, I won't make an attempt on your life but he did agree to do something for me."

"You got Four to agree to do something for you?" There was a fair amount of amazement in Two's voice. Four didn't give off the impression he would do something without a reason.

Eight shrugged and grimaced slightly hearing an out of tune whistler approaching. "Maybe agree is too strong of a word."

TJ entered the galley, his whistling stopped as he paused seeing the two women already occupying the room. He seemed to stiffen slightly seeing her but after a moment he entered as if he were alone and set about prepping his meal, which basically consisted of heating up the portion Five had set aside for him while he was busy working.

"He lost a bet we had," Eight continued.

Two frowned slightly as she sat down across from Eight. "Just what were the two of you betting on?"

Eight glanced toward TJ, just a subtle shift to her eyes but she knew Two had seen it. "Training one of our greenest crew members. Basic hand to hand, tactical thinking maybe some combat analysis and assessment. He's gonna have to keep it pretty simple to start off with until he's gotten an idea of his strengths and weaknesses. Same thing I'm doing with Five."

"You're training Five?" There was a bit of surprise straining Two's voice as she questioned Eight.

"Unless you know somebody better qualified?" Eight inquired with a suggestive tint to her voice.

Two shook her head, a rather small back and forth movement before she said, "No. I just hadn't realized she was interested…"

"Wouldn't really say interested," Eight said into the bit of silence. "But she understands the necessity and she doesn't want to be a liability if she decides to stay aboard."

"Figured you'd be the last person trying to convince her to stay," Two statement felt more like a question.

Eight took a slow breath, filling her lungs with the sterile tasting air. It was so different then being on the surface of a planet with the thousands of natural scents. She leveled hard eyes on Two as she said, "What I want, more than anything is for Five to be safe. For nothing to ever endanger her. After that, I want her to be happy. Right now the second is at odds with the first. She wants to be here, no matter the danger that being a member of this crew puts her in. For right now she gets what she wants and I'll do everything I can to get what I want and so help anyone that even looks at her crossways."

Two nodded as she drew in a shallow breath. She had no doubt about what Eight would be willing to do to keep Five safe. She also had no illusions about what life abroad the Raza would be like for the two youngest members of their crew. "I don't imagine that would be a very healthy thing to do," Two said.

/ / /

There was a burning ache in muscles Five hadn't known existed in her body before today. Everything was stiff and it seemed to take an eternity for her to accomplish even the simplest of task. At this rate she was never going to make her primary objective, let alone her second or third. She regretted having sent TJ to get lunch and telling him to take a few hours for himself, but he had been here all morning and the stretches Eight had taught her made her feel loose and limber. It wasn't until she settled down, stopped moving that her body decided to rebel.

Moving with all the speed of the extremely infirmed Five retrieved a set of tools, several so she wouldn't have to make a lot of extra trips and got down to work. TJ had gotten all the grunt work for the day out of the way, which left her to handle building the components, pretty much from scratch and then putting everything together relying on nothing but her own intuitive instincts.

Time passed as she worked, how much she couldn't even begin to guess as one thing led into another. Andi would have to check her work since she wasn't really sure of what she was doing. While she was positive what she was building would work it would be prudent to have it checked.

There was a knock on the bulkhead a moment before Six's strong voice said, "Hey there."

"Hey," Five said without looking up.

Six stepped into the room, taking a look around. "What are you up to?" He asked with a bit of curiosity filling his voice.

"You know, just trying to build a clean system not connected in any way to the ship's main core," she explained as she soldered a pair of wires into a circuit.

"I'm going to assume you have a reason?" Six inquired curiously as he sat on a sturdy looking crate.

Five finished the soldering and set the circuit aside to cool. "Eight…" She shrugged before she started again. "We think the person Eight was, that she might have left a series of clues for us in the vids she brought on board, but they might be rigged to delete themselves after they've been played once. They might be rigged in other ways as well, viruses that could infect the ship so we figured the safest course of action would be to build a system that was completely isolated from the ship. Someplace we could scan the vids, detect any sort of virus or messages." She couldn't tell if Six agreed, if he was angry. Most of the time he was an easy read. He wasn't as volatile as Three but he didn't really hide his emotions or keep them bottled up like Four. Exhaling she tried to release her frustration as she said, "I don't even know if this is going to work? It should but what if I made a mistake," she gestured toward the panel she was constructing, "because I can't remember."

"After looking up who we were," Six started. "The little information I can find way out here, the less I want to know who I was. Maybe it's better this way, a clean slate. A fresh start for all of us." His mind was piecing together what Five had told him. "Eight told you about the message, came up with this plan?" He asked.

Five wanted to tell him all of it. He was her friend, aside from TJ, she trusted Six more than all the rest combined. It felt wrong keeping him in the dark like this. "Me and Two came up with this, Andi contributed, but it as… Well it was after I accidently overheard a message Eight left for herself," She frowned as a thought came to her. "She must have set it up after she came onboard the Raza but before one of us wiped our memories?"

"What…? One of us wiped our memories," Six questioned. Now she could tell he was angry as his dark eyes latched on to her. "How the hell do you know it was one of us that did this?"

Five swallowed as she realized Six might be just as frightening as Three, maybe more so. "I kinda, sort of had this dream of doing it. It was me in the dream, but it's always me in the dreams but it isn't actually me. Most of the time I'm reliving a portion of someone's live, but I don't know whose life it is that I'm reliving… Except when it's Eight. I always know when I'm living one of Eight's memories. They're more like nightmares, horrible filled with monsters and death…"

"Five," Six called out sharply as he grabbed hold of the young girl. "Snap out of it."

"What… What, happened?" Five asked as she blinked away a sense of vagueness.

"Are you okay?" Six asked. His voice was filled with concern.

Five nodded as she said, "I think so. What happened?"

"You were telling me about how you've been having dreams of our lives," Six told her with a questioning frown. After a moment he started again, "About how you've been reliving our lives when you dream. Then you just started mumbling; wasn't able to make anything out after that." There was still a trace of anger in his voice but what she heard was his concern for her.

/ / /

Five tried to stop him as Six made his way toward the bridge like a man on a mission he didn't particularly want to carry out. His legs were longer and she had to rush just to keep up with him. Overtaking him was out of the question. The heavy steel door opened automatically as he drew close enough. "Six," she pleaded. "Please don't."

Two was working on one of the consoles, a thin tablet in her hands. Andi was nearby as Six closed on their leader. "She has all our memories in her head," he stated in a tone that would have made a large bear sit up and take notice as he surged into the room. "And you knew it." If anything there was even more anger in his voice.

"I know that's what she thought," Two said as she faced the larger man. There wasn't the tiniest sliver of fear at the difference in their size.

"And you told her to stay quite about it. Why?"

"I wanted to make sure," Two answered. She didn't want to make an enemy of Six, he was one of the few people on the Raza she sort of liked. He didn't hide what he was feeling but he didn't burst into a tantrum when things didn't go his way.

"Yeah, and how'd you plan on doing that?" He questioned the brunette.

Two opened her mouth slightly but didn't say anything. Six deserved answers. They all did, but she didn't really feel like explaining everything half a dozen times. Reaching over she keyed the ships internal comms. "I need everyone to meet me in the mess in five minutes," she ordered the crew.

/ / /

TJ had already been in the mess when Two and the others arrived. He was scarfing down the dregs of his lunch as they had filed in. He had shot a questioning glance at Five and Two noticed her mouth the word, "Dreams," to him. Despite her admonishment Six might have been the second person Five told about her dreams. Although Two could admit Five might have talked to TJ about her dreams before going to her. The two youngsters were as thick as thieves.

One was only a few seconds behind them and Two suspected he had walked briskly, if not outright ran from wherever he was to the mess. Sort of like an over eager puppy wanting to be scratched behind his ear. He greeted the others in a friendly manner but seemed to sense the mood and refrained from his normal silence filling babble as he took a seat at the head of the table on the right hand side in front of TJ. Five took the seat opposite One on the left side of the table while Six took the seat on the left side leaving a space between himself and Five. If the teenager had a problem sitting between a pair of mass murderers he did a good job of concealing the fact.

Four and Eight came in together, talking in hushed tones too soft to make anything out but there were quite a few hand gestures involved. Two didn't want to know what was going through Eight's head. The blonde caught her look out of the corner of her eye but didn't acknowledge Two in any way. Instead Eight nudged Four slightly and nodded towards TJ. Four shot the blonde a look but Eight was already moving towards the back end of the table, out of everyone's line of sight. It was an attempt to give everyone on board the space she felt they needed to come to terms with the part she played in their amnesia.

Taking a breath Four walked up to TJ, placed his hand upon the young man's shoulder and leaned close. He whispered something in his ear that caused the young man to pale significantly as Four straightened. "Do not be late," Four warned the young man as his gripped tightened slightly on the teen's shoulder before he stepped away and took the seat opposite Six right beside TJ.

TJ finally remembered to swallow what he had been chewing and nearly choked on the partially chewed food. He shot a look at Four but he wasn't paying him the slightest bit of attention and he glanced at Five, only she simply shrugged at him.

Three was the last member of the crew to arrive. He strolled in as if he didn't have a care in the world. He spotted Eight sitting at the end of the table and his eyes seemed to glaze over with the anger that was boiling in his veins. "Oh, hell no," he mumbled loudly before he turned and started to leave the room as fast as he entered.

"Get in here and sit down," Two snapped.

She almost thought he was going to ignore her and keep walking right out of the mess, but he stopped. His back becoming far more rigid as he turned and his eyes locked on Eight. The blonde smiled at him, as if inviting him to attempt ever twisted fantasy playing out in his head at the moment. Without a word he crossed to the far side of the table and took the last remaining seat between Six and Five.

Once Three was seated Two stepped up next to Andi and began to explain the situation, "Five has been having dreams. Dreams she thinks might be memories except they're not just hers."

For the first time since he spotted Eight an emotion other than anger settled on Three's face as he said, "What?"

With a hesitant tremor in her voice Two started explaining her thoughts. "I think all of our memories might have been transferred into her subconscious," she said. She noted the speculative glimmer in Eight's eyes.

Confusion lit One's eyes, it filled his voice as he asked, "How is that even possible?"

Six came back with, "How is any of this possible?"

Eight's light colored eyes seemed to grow distant as she said, "There are more things in heaven and earth than you can possibly hope to understand."

Two frowned but she would have to wait before she questioned. It was just one of an ever growing list. For right now she needed to stay focused. "There's something else. One of the dreams she experienced is of one of us sabotaging the stasis pods."

"Son of a bitch," Three murmured with smoldering anger as he glared at Five.

"Back off Dopey," Eight warned Three as her temper began to seethe.

Three glanced at Eight, his hand dropping to the pistol holstered on his hip. "Hang on," One said quickly into the rising tension and attempting to defuse the situation. "Just because she dreamed it doesn't make it real."

With a bit of a frown Two said, "I had Andi search through all terminal activity just prior to our last deep sleep."

"And?" One prompted.

"I recovered portions of self deleted subroutine that was initiated prior to all of you entering stasis," Andi told the crew. "Although its specific intent is unclear, it would appear your memories were targeted."

Three glanced around, looking for anything to focus his anger on while One slumped in his chair. TJ frowned, out of everyone in the room only Five was capable of writing that program and everyone knew it. Four didn't react visibly but Eight could tell the man was raging on the inside and she was running various scenarios through the back of her mind trying to determine ways to incapacitate the crew so she could extricate Five from the situation.

Almost like clockwork Three pointed out the obvious as he chimed in. "Ah, come on guys. How hard can this be? She remembers doing it –"

"You should really think about taking a step back," Eight advised him.

Three turned his anger toward Eight as he glared at the blonde. "She did it," he finished not about to let himself be intimidated by Eight or her freakish superhuman abilities.

Six frowned as he tried to piece the entire thing together. "If it was her, why tell us about it?" Why was Eight suddenly so protective of Five? "Think about it," he added.

"Alright," Two said attempting to get every to focus instead of simply tossing about accusations. "Alright. Come on." They needed to work together not fight each other.

"Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" One demanded as he straightened, his back stiffening.

"I wanted to see if her dream about tampering with the ship's systems checked out," Two answered. It wasn't apologetic, simply her reasoning. She focused on Five and One noted the emotion in Two's eyes as she said, "It did. Which means this goes far beyond that one memory. She could have all of our memories tucked away in her head."

"Then get them out of there," Eight growled. Her only concern was for Five, the brain didn't posses infinite storage capacity. Even she knew that much. She didn't care if none of them got their memories back so long as Five was safe.

Ignoring Eight, One turned his attention to Five. There was a light burning in his dark eyes as he asked, "When you dream… Do you have any idea who's memories you're experiencing?"

Five's eyes flickered towards Eight but she said, "No. In the dreams everything is happening to me but sometimes I can tell it's not me. It's really confusing and a lot of times kind of hazy and I have trouble remembering when I wake up."

"So someone in this room wiped our memories," Six stated.

"And we got someone that knew it was going to happen and didn't lift a finger to stop it," Three added as he turned his attention to Eight. "Course they might actually be one and the same."

Power fluctuated as the lights flickered. "We dropped out of FTL," Eight told her shipmates.

One glanced at Andi. "Eight is correct," she confirmed and warning klaxons went off all over the ship.

"Why?" Two asked.

A brief moment later Andi said, "There's something wrong with the ship."

/ / /

"We've lost power to several systems," Andi informed the crew as they filed onto the bridge. "Including external sensors and the FTL drive."

"What happened?" Two asked.

"The operation efficiency of one of the outer relays dropped below minimum safe," Andi explained. "The ship detached the coupling and shut down all related systems to avoid a catastrophic failure."

"Translation please?" Three requested. For the moment he sounded calm and rational.

Two glanced in his direction. "We nearly blew a fuse," she told the rest of the crew.

"Except in this case blowing a fuse would equate to an explosion powerful enough to vaporize the entire ship," Andi said providing the crew with a more detailed description of what could have occurred.

"Well that's great," Three said. "Memory dreams? Hacked stasis pods… Now this. That's a whole lot of things going wrong on this ship. Almost like someone's been tampering with it. Ain't that right tech monkey?"

"You might want to slow your roll there Mr. Potato Head," Eight warned Three as Six glared at the man.

"Back off," Six warned the other man.

"Why're you protecting her? You don't know her." Three's tone was heavy with suggestion.

"I know I like her a hell of a lot more than I like you," Six answered before Eight could say anything.

Three's returning glare took the little blonde in as well as Six. It was obvious the large man had decided to become something of a parental figure to both of the teens, nor was it much of a secret that Eight had taken a shine to their Tech Monkey. Not that he cared who the blonde wanted to warm her bed, but he had thought there was something of a spark between Two and Eight. Maybe he was just reading too much into things. "Could this be sabotage?" Three asked Andi.

"The coupling is located on the outer hull," Andi informed the group. "If someone wanted to tamper with it they would have had to perform an EVA."

"You mean go outside the ship?" One asked as if he were unsure.

"It seems unlikely," Andi answered him.

"No," Two began. "It's impossible. We were in FTL until five minutes ago."

"Exactly," Six said looking straight at Three.

"On the other hand, tampering with the diagnostic systems to make the ship think the coupling would fail would be comparatively simple," Andi told them. "If someone wanted to disable the ship without doing any real damage, this would be an excellent way to do it." She sounded almost happy about the information she provided.

"You said our external sensors were down," Eight said into the momentary silence. "Might not be a bad idea to take the Prowler out for a look-see."

Six nodded as he said, "She's right. We have no idea what's out there."

"Unfortunately the hanger bay is one of the systems supported by that coupling. At this time we are unable to open the bay doors. If it were necessary I suppose you could always blast your way out." Once again she sounded far too happy.

Two drew in a breath and allowed some of the tension to drain away. "Well, we can't stay out here forever. How do we get the FTL back online?"

"First I have to determine what, if anything is wrong with the system. That could take some time," Andi informed them.

"We'll let you get to it then," Two said and the crew began to file off the bridge. Five still had questions but she could always come back. She doubted if her safe room could have had anything to do with the sudden malfunction but Andi could probably run a more thorough diagnostic scan then she could.

"Do you have another question?" Andi inquired of One as he hung back.

"Yeah," he started off hesitantly. "When people lie, they exhibit tells, right? Physical signs that they're being untruthful."

"When humans are being deceptive they show a spike in respiration, blood pressure and changes in skin conductivity," Andi replied.

"Now those signs, we wouldn't necessarily be able to notice them but you could right?"

"If I was in close enough proximity. Yes. In theory I could determine if a person was lying," Andi answered. "There is a slight flaw in your logic. Sociopaths do not exhibit the same signs as a normal human being. According to yours' and the other members of the crew's psychological profiles each of you would be classified as sociopath."

One waved off Andi's statement as he said, "That was before. Since we came out of the pods, without our memories, what do your personal observations tell you about us?"

"You raise a very interesting argument," Andi mused as she processed all the information she had available. She didn't mention her suspicions about Eight. To casual observation she appeared to be a very poor liar but Andi had yet to notice any physical fluctuation when she was out of her comfort zone. It was quite possible the blonde's bio markers simply didn't alter no matter the level of stress she was under. A distinct advantage in close quarters combat.

Or she was an example of nature over nurture.

/ / /

"Where are we going?" Four asked as Three led him into the bowels of the ship.

Three turned and headed down another flight of stairs as he said, "You'll see." Stopping he turned on the stairs and glanced back up. "Rumor has it you did a bit of mano a womano against Eight?"

"We sparred," Four answered.

Three frowned at the man. He needed an ally on the ship. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't trust Four if he was three days dead, but the situation was far from normal. "And?" He prompted.

"You've seen her fight," Four pointed out.

"That was against low rent FC bullyboys," Three hedged. "I'm curious to find out…"

"She could kill all of us in a heartbeat," Four told him. "The only member of this crew who even stands a chance against her is the Android."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Three murmured as he started back down the stairs.

"You said you wanted to show me something," Four reminded him as he followed him down the stairs.

Three nodded as he said, "I do. Just trust me on this one." He turned at the foot of the stairs. "You are going to be amazed," he said displaying a large door.

Four looked at the door, glanced at Three then looked back at the door. "That's it?"

"Yeah," Three said with a slight sparkle in his eyes.

Four looked back at Three. "You expect me to be amazed by a very large door?"

There was excitement in his voice as he said, "No. Not the door," Three said with a gesture. "What's behind the door."

"What's behind the door?" Four questioned a bit of curiosity leaking into his voice.

"I don't know," Three admitted. Then with a glance towards Four he added, "Yet." He turned his attention back toward the door and continued. "But it's gotta be pretty awesome, why else keep it behind this kind of lock down."

Four started forward. "Who else knows about this?"

"Only you," Three admitted. "Cause you're the only guy I trust." A thoughtful pause followed before he said, "Oh hey. I'm thinking. The way you handle your weapons… It's damn impressive, it's mighty damn impressive for someone who's lost all their memories." Four twisted around. A pensive frown creasing his brow. "Don't get me wrong." Three held up his hands. "I'm not accusing you of anything." Four turned back towards the door. "I'm just wondering how you do it is all? You can't even remember your own name but you recall all these fancy moves."

Four moved first, his hand dipped to the holster and his gun, he drew his weapon as he shifted to the side. Three was half a beat behind, yet he managed to bring his own pistol to bare first as his off-hand landed on Four's forearm making sure he wouldn't be able to get a clean shot on him.

"Instincts," Four said as he lowered his gun.

"Okay," Three mumbled. "Instinct," he said re-holstering his pistol. "So what do your instincts tell you about whether you can open this door?"

Four studied the console, closing his eyes.

"Remember, we're partners in this yeah? I've got your back, you've got mine." He waited a few seconds almost patiently. "So you think you can open this door?"

Several more seconds passed before Four opened his eyes and said, "No." He turned quickly and walked away heading back up the stairs.

Three exhaled mildly irritated as he said, "Well shit."

/ / /

Five concentrated as she worked her way through the puzzle with a vague sort of awareness of TJ as Four instructed him; going through a series of exercises utilizing a technique called active meditation. Sweet was dripping from TJ as if he was running around the decks of the Raza with lead weights tied to his ankles. With a bit of a frown she moved the next piece into place.

Andi didn't think the clean room they were setting up had anything to do with their current situation. She didn't exactly rule it out as a possibility. Until the FTL was fixed it was best they didn't continue working on their little side project.

Four hadn't exactly been welcoming when she showed up to support TJ but he didn't toss her out on her backside either so that was encouraging. Maybe Three really was the only member of the crew that saw her as a threat. Although Five was fairly certain that Four saw everyone as a potential threat.

She wasn't even sure how Four could still be on his feet. If she spent an hour sparring with Eight she was certain it would take something fairly miraculous to get her moving again. Even now, hours later her body still protested any sort of moderately strenuous activity. Four didn't appear any worse for wear. It was as if the spar had just been a normal part of his day. Maybe for him it was. He did spend a lot of time training.

Four had TJ going through a simple series of hand strikes combined with a few basic kicks. It wasn't very different from the form Eight had her doing this morning. Four would tell him a number and TJ would visualize the combination for six to seven seconds, nod when he was ready and then Four would shout now and TJ would execute the combination before returning to a set position. Then they would repeat the process. At least that was what had been taking place for the last twenty minutes or so.

"Five!" Four called out in a sharp commanding voice that pulled her attention away from the puzzle she had been working on. Looking up she saw Four motioning for her to join him. She stood up, brushing her hands off on her pants as she approached the pair. "It would be beneficial for the two of you to get some work in against an actual opponent."

"Are you sure this is gonna be okay with Eight?" Five asked.

Four studied her, it felt more like he glared at her, for a few seconds before he said, "I doubt if she'd object to getting a little more training in. But if you'd rather not help your friend…?"

"I didn't… That's…" Another thing to remember about Four. He was tricky. "Of course I want to help TJ."

"Good," Four answered with a nod and maybe just a bit of a smile. "Face each other, right handed fighting stance. We'll start off with the first combination. Five will strike first, Seven will execute the combination."

"Um," TJ began in a subdued tone that brought Four's dark eyes down on him. "But we haven't worked on the combinations from this position and I don't think Five has worked on them at all."

Four nodded solemnly as he laced his fingers behind his back. He took a step toward the back wall forcing TJ to turn slightly to track him. "Fair points," he admitted. "Both of them," he continued as he took another step placing himself behind TJ. "Only you'll seldom find life to be fair." Another step placed him just behind TJ's right ear. "Do you think your enemies are going to wait for you to take a proper stance before attacking?" He was even with TJ's shoulder and paused for a moment as he said, "They'll come at you from where they believe you to be weakest, from you're exposed flank." He took another step and he was even with Five's shoulder now. "They'll try to overwhelm you with superior numbers and firepower." He stopped standing directly behind Five. He turned, looking TJ directly in the eye. "You need to be ready. You have to think quickly and react to the unexpected without panicking." He tapped Five's shoulder and she slid forward, almost gracefully, throwing a basic front punch that crashed into TJ's jaw.

He fell backwards but managed to stay on his feet as Five gasped, "Oh god!"

TJ put a hand to his face. "You punched me."

"I'm so sorry," Five murmured. "I thought you were ready."

"You punched me," TJ repeated still in a daze.

Four smirked lightly as he said, "And she seems to pick up on things quite quickly."

/ / /

The corridor was dark, pretty much little more than emergency lighting. Six followed Two around the corner. "Hey," he called out bringing the brunette up short of her destination.

She turned slowly, unsure if she wanted to take place in this conversation. "What?"

Six took a breath as he approached. "We need to talk," he said.

"About what?" Two asked with an upward tilt of her chin as Six stopped next to her.

"The kids," he answered.

"You mean TJ and Five," Two corrected him strongly emphasizing their names.

Holding Two's gaze Six said, "They don't belong here." There was more than a hint of frustration in his voice.

Two smirked at him as she said, "Then why were you arguing otherwise?"

"We're bad company," he told her.

"I know," Two acknowledged relaxing just a little. She knew Six was simply concerned for the two youngsters. So wasn't she. "But they woke up in those stasis pods like everybody else. That tells me they did something right… Or wrong to be here."

Six stared at her with hard, questioning eyes. "Is that what you believe? Or is that what you convinced yourself of so you can keep Five around long enough to tap those memories in her head?"

"Hey," One said as he came out of another hall. "We're convening in the mess hall," he told them.

"What for?" Six asked.

One's gaze shifted between the two of them for a second before he said, "Answers."

/ / /

Eight looked around at the rest of the crew in the galley. None of them looked exactly surprised. "So none of us are lying," she said into the silence.

"You're results were inconclusive at best," Andi informed everyone present. "As I suspected there was no discernible difference in your baseline questions. You could quite easily fool a standard polygraph test."

She snorted at Andi's response. "Great. So I'm still primer sospechoso número uno." Several of the others looked at her with question in their eyes. Eight exhaled and said, "Prime suspect number one."

"Three still hasn't taken his," One pointed out.

"Good luck with that," Eight offered as she stood up. "Let me know how it turns out," she added.

/ / /

"There's a problem," Andi announced as the others returned to galley with Three in front of them.

"You mean other than being coerced –"

"I'm detecting something unsettling with the ship," Andi continued ignoring Three. "The hull is being bombarded with an unusually high concentration of Gamma radiation."

Three looked straight at Two as he asked, "You still think this ship hasn't been sabotaged?"

"What does this mean?" Two demanded.

"At this level of exposure full penetration will occur within three hours. At which point everyone on board will be subjected to a lethal dose of radiation," she paused with a slight frown. "There is one person on board capable of withstanding such exposure."

"And where is our happy little psychopath?" Three asked.

/ / /

One had his arms folded across his chest as he watched the heavy blast shields slid into place over the main view screens. "I thought the shields were suppose to protect the hull from radiation?" He asked Andi.

Andi turned and faced the crew as she explained the situation, "That's exactly what they've been doing but this level of exposure has taxed them beyond their design specification. I've had to reroute power from some of the ships other systems to reinforce them."

"What caused this?" Two asked.

Andi took a moment to consider her answer. In this case a moment was the barest fraction of a second. "There are any number of celestial phenomena that can generate this level of gamma radiation. Even at interstellar distances, but in this case I believe we're dealing with the remains of a type One A supernova," she informed the crew before adding, "It's unfortunate that we emerged from FTL within lethal range."

"Right," Three said. "This is all just bad luck," he looked around at several of the others. "We're suppose to believe this?"

In a harsh voice Four asked, "You think whoever sabotaged the ship timed this malfunction deliberately to put us in this location?"

"Damn straight I do," Three answered.

"Even though he or she would suffer the same affects as everyone else?" Andi queried.

Three locked his gaze on the android as he suggested, "Unless he or she is an it?"

"And what reason would Andi have for wanting us dead?" Eight demanded. "Not like she can go off and sell the damn thing. Or collect the bounty on us," she pointed out.

Three locked his glare on her. "But she's not the only one here that could outlast everyone else is she?"

Eight blinked, she hadn't even considered the possibility that her enhanced physiology would allow her to survive the radiation bombarding the ship. "Even if I would live longer than all the rest of you why would you even think I'd put Five's life at risk. If I wanted this ship I'd take it. If I wanted you dead, you would be dead." She held his eye for another beat before turning and exiting the bridge.

Swallowing Three exhaled as if he had just been let out of a trap. Something in the back of his mind told him he'd be better off keeping his mouth shut but he had the feeling he'd been ignoring that voice for a long time now. He turned his attention to Five as he asked, "What makes you so special? You two aren't doing the…?"

Five grimaced, a look of disgust on her face as she said, "Eww." She seemed to shiver slightly. "Eight's my mother," she told the crew before she grabbed her coat and headed off after Eight.

"Well that…" Three started and then paused. "That can't be? Eight can't be more than five, six years older then–"

One shifted slightly. Out of everyone on the bridge only Two and TJ didn't appear surprised by Five's declaration which meant they already knew. More than likely so didn't the android. _So much for nobody keeping secrets_. "What kind of effects are we talking about?" He asked the android.

"Nauseous, vomiting, disorientation," Andi began.

"Okay," One said not sounding thrilled by the prospect.

"Infection. Peeling skin," Andi continued.

"Okay," One said sounding even less enthused.

"Hemorrhaging, damage to the –"

"Okay, okay. I get it," One said with a grimace. Definitely not how he wanted to die.

"Okay," Three said. "Just a… Wait a minute here. If this is a supernova or whatever means it's been happening since we got here, right? So how come Ms Know-it-all is only telling us about it right now?"

"I believe I may have already mentioned the external sensors were down," she answered unconcerned by the implied accusation. "I only detected the radiation once it made significant penetration into the hull."

"You've got an answer for everything don't you?" Three mumbled

Andi smiled as she said, "Yes. I am an excellent information source. Thank you."

Three scowled at the android as he growled, "That wasn't a compliment."

"Alright," Two said placing herself between Andi and Three. "Enough." She turned her attention to Andi as she said, "So we know the situation. What can we do?"

"You have two options," Andi said. "One, you can override the safety protocols and initiate an immediate jump to FTL."

One frowned slightly as he asked, "We can do that?"

"But I wouldn't advice it," Andi warned against it.

"Why not?" Two asked.

"The system was shut down for a reason. If we engage the coupling without addressing the malfunction the computer is predicting a seventy-three percent chance of developing a fatal instability in the plasma matrix," Andi answers.

"Translation?" Three asked.

A slight scowl twisted Two's lips as she answered saying, "The ship blows up."

"Seventy-Three percent," One mumbles. "I'm not loving those odds."

"Of course if you really believe it was sabotage then it was most likely the diagnostic program that was tempered with then there is really nothing wrong with the coupling at all," Andi informed the crew. "Would anyone like to take that chance?"

"You said there was a second option," One said.

/ / /

The sounds of flesh slapping steel told Five she was in the right area as she rounded the corner. About ten meters further on was the open door to the gym. It was almost freaky how she could sense Eight, as if on some level they shared a connection that went beyond blood.

Five was fairly certain Eight knew she was in the hall. The tiny blonde seemed to be aware of everyone. It was probably just that the Raza wasn't exceedingly large and Eight did possess ultra enhanced senses. If anything Eight seemed to kick her pace up a notch or two as she drew closer.

Stopping just outside the door Five took a moment to watch her mother as she worked against a reinforced steel version of a wooden man. It was impossible for her to follow the older woman's assault as she wove around the training aid.

A stubby, steel arm sprang from the third ring of the wooden man's main body to Eight's right and that tier rotated to the left. Instead of attempting to stop the attack Eight performed some sort of right handed aerial walkover as her left hand whipped out; a pair of slim bladed daggers blossomed dead center in a small wooden plank half the size of her palm that hung three quarters of the way up the far wall.

The entire maneuver had taken a fraction of a second by the time Eight landed and her foot lashed out to catch another arm on the bottom ring. Taking a look around the gym Five spotted almost a dozen other targets hanging from the walls. None of them were bigger than her forehead and most of them had some sort of projectile jutting out from their center. One even had a pair of eyes, needle like pins about five inches long were protruding from each eye. They bore a striking resemblance to Three's baleful glare. Another plank had a realistic heart drawn on it but so far it was unadorned by any sort of razor edged blade.

Five noticed that the gym had gone silent and she turned her attention towards Eight. The blonde was covered in a lite sheen of sweat as she rested her back against the steel wooden man, a clear indication of just how hard she had been pushing herself. "Hey," she said by way of greeting the younger girl.

"Hey," Five returned as she stepped into the room. She could feel a small smile playing at the corner of her lips.

Eight stepped away from the piece of equipment as she said, "Figured you'd be with the others…" She retrieved one set of weapons as she went on. "…Using that big brain of yours to come up with some sort of ingenious solution."

Five moved over to one of the planks and tried to pry the blade free but discovered she lacked the necessary strength. She grunted slightly in annoyance. "You seemed a little upset," she said.

"Mr. Ewing needs a soft touch to guide him," Eight explained in a soft sultry voice as her hand molded itself around the blade's hilt and pulled the slim dagger free with little effort.

Five glanced over her shoulder with a mildly arched brow. "Mr. Ewing?" She asked.

Eight shrugged lightly. "I need a way to tell them all apart," she explained as she casually flipped the blade and caught it and slid it into one of her many sheathes. She touched a heavier hilt as she said, "This is Cliff. He's not too bright, balance and heft are all wrong for throwing." She drew out a slim, inky black blade. It had an edge on only one side and a slight curve to the blade and a carved bone hilt. "And this is Jarlaxle," she told Five before replacing the blade. There was a distant look in her eyes but it vanished quickly.

"I'm sure there's a story behind each and every one of them," Five told her.

"Probably," Eight agreed. "But I've got a feeling…" She started but stopped. There was no way she was going to pity herself. Whatever happened was the past. Her only option was to move forward. "Not that I'm complaining or anything but why aren't you with the others?"

"You seemed," she faltered for a moment. She really didn't want Eight upset with her but she got the distinct impression lying to her would be about as hard as being deceitful to Andi. "You were upset and I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Why does everyone…?" Eight started but stopped as she drew a breath. "I'm fine. Really," She said.

"Eight. Five," Two's voice cut over their comms. "Return to the bridge," she ordered.

Eight tapped her comm and said, "We'll be right there." She removed her hand and glanced over at Five. "I love when she gets all bossy."

/ / /

The door to one of the ships utility closet slide open as Andi said, "The computer has identified what it believes to be the faulty part." A number of reinforced EVA suits filled the small chamber. "It's a relatively small electrical component. All we have to do is replace it."

One scowled at Andi. "You want one of us to go out there in the deadly radiation storm?" His voice was filled with biting sarcasm.

"Why are we even listening to this bag of bolts?" Three demanded from a short distance down the corridor. "She's obviously got a wire lose," he added with twirl of his fingers aimed at his head. Eight shot him a dark look but he just glared right back at her.

"I'll go," Andi them.

"On the other hand sometimes she makes a lot of sense," he said stepping between One and Andi. He leaned in and whispered, "Good luck," before stepping back and walking away.

Two grabbed hold of Andi's arm and said, "You're not impervious to gamma radiation," in a concerned voice.

Eight frowned at the exchange. It was almost as if there was a connection between the two. Whether there was a memory of it or not the pair must have some sort of history, at least there was for Two.

Andi on the other hand turned back towards the EVA suits and said, "The suits are shielded against full spectrum EM. As long as I'm not outside for too long I should be fine."

/ / /

Eight watched Andi as she made her way down into the trench. There was something gnawing at her gut after watching the static discharge but she couldn't put her finger on it. She was bursting with unused energy. Glancing toward the EVA closet she frowned then turned back to stare out the airlock for several seconds.

"What is it?" One asked having picked up on her mood.

Eight shrugged. Jace Corso wasn't the sort of person she believed would have been capable of picking up on her mood. One though appeared to be far more intuitive or perhaps empathetic. "I've just got this feeling something is going to go wrong," she said. "Help me get one of these things on," she added moving back over to the closet and removing one of the suits.

"Why?" Two asked as Eight began to strip out of her clothes.

"Maybe it's nothing," Eight said. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I've got this feeling and…" She paused as another thought coalesced. "Prepare for the worst then all your surprises will be pleasant ones." Looking at Two she says, "No offence but I'm gonna need someone with more upper body strength. Have Five and TJ go through some of the cargo holds. See if they can't find some sort of tether. Several hundred meters should be good. If they don't find anything remember to put it on our shopping list."

Two nods as she turned away and reached for her comm. "Five, TJ start going through some of the cargo holds. Look for any sort of cord or rope… Anything that can be used to make a tether. Six get down to the airlock."

Andi's voice came over the comms as she announced, "Accessing the control panel." Nearly a minute went by before she said, "I can see the coupling. I've identified the faulty electrical component. Removing it now."

Eight looked out the airlock, her helmet was in her hand. She tried to see Andi but she was somewhere in the trench. "Why does this stuff always take so long?" She mumbled to herself.

"All right," Andi said. "Here goes." A few more seconds ticked by before she announced, "It worked. The coupling automatically engaged. We should be able to jump now without any problems."

One looked over at Eight with a satisfied grin as he said, "All your surprises will be pleasant."

Andi's voice came over the comms as she said, "Closing the access panel."

Eight turned back toward the airlock with a frown. "You just jinxed us," she whispered as the first sparks of ionized electricity arced over the trench.

"Android," Two's panicked voice came over the comms. "Andi you need to get back to the ship."

Andi's voice was calm as she said, "Too late."

"Andi," Two called out. "Andi can you hear me?"

"She's been hit," Six said as he reached the airlock.

"How long between the two discharges?" Eight asked.

"Forty, forty-five minutes," Five answered.

Eight frowned but made her decision quickly as she said, "I'm gonna have to forgo the tether. The next discharge may come sooner…"

"You can't," Five said.

Ignoring Five, Eight ran through the calculations. "Five to ten minutes to get out there. The same to get back…"

"Guess you won't have any time for sightseeing," One joked.

"Get up to the bridge," she told him. "Prep the FTL. If anything happens to me while I'm out there jump. Don't let Two try and do something stupid like mount a rescue mission."

One didn't say anything but he gave her a sharp nod before turning and walking away. "What do you want me to do?" Six asked.

"Look after Five," she told him as she put her helmet on and secured it.

Six checked the seal as he asked, "Your comms working?"

"You're coming through loud and clear," she answered as she moved to the airlock.

Punching in the code Six opened the airlock. "Good luck," he said as she stepped through the opening.

Eight closed the inner airlock and moved to the outer door. She vented the air and equalized the pressure before she opened the outer airlock. It didn't take her long to fall into a rhythm and it almost appeared as if she was skipping across the hull of the Raza. She'd only use the magnetized boots to keep her close to the ship so didn't drift off into space.

Faster than the others believed it was possible Eight reached the trench. "I found Andi," she informed the others a few minutes later.

"How does it look down there?" Two asked.

"I'm just going to grab the toolkit and Andi," Eight said as she moved past Andi. "We're going to need something to get her back on her feet," she added as she picked up the box by its handle before moving over to Andi and deactivating her magnetic boots. She picked up the Android as if she weighed less than nothing. "I'm heading back now," she told them as she started making her way out of the trench.

/ / /

Five tapped on the door to Four's quarters a little hesitantly, random thoughts running through her head. Like did he know that technically she was his great aunt half a dozen or more times removed? Doubtful. He didn't really seem like the science type. Maybe hurting or even killing her was his way of getting revenge on Eight? Unlikely. Her death would no doubt hurt Eight but probably not enough to satisfy his sense of honor.

"Come," Four said from the other side of the door.

Five keyed in the access code and the door slide open. She was only a little surprised to see Four sitting alongside his table honing the edge on one of his swords. "You said you wanted to see me?" She said stepping across the threshold to his room.

Four nodded as he set aside his sword and whet stone. "I've noticed you're very good at solving puzzles," he said as he lifted a small wooden box off the table.

She wondered just how he had come to that conclusion as her gaze focused on the box. "I like them," she answered with a bit of a shrug. It sounded a little lame even to her own ears.

"And you figured out how to get the Android operating again," he pointed out. She couldn't help but notice he sounded impressed by that.

Five shrugged wondering why her cheeks felt slightly flush. "I really didn't do anything. She just needed to reboot."

"Once, I knew what was inside this box. I was probably the one who put it in here," he said looking at the box. Four held the box out to her.

"You're not planning on killing me?" She asked taking the box.

He smiled at her as he picked up his sword and whet stone. "It wasn't on my agenda for today," he said returning to his task.

Five returned the smile as she turned and plopped down onto his bed. Four might be scary and dangerous. Except for her and TJ everybody on the Raza was scary and dangerous; yet she felt at home among them, as if she had a place here. Turning the box over she began to study it. It was beautiful in its simplicity. She felt as if she had seen it's like somewhere before. A smile bloomed across her face as she slid the first piece into place.

/ / /

TJ could hear the guitar several corridors away. It was upbeat, happy sounding as its tempo filled the corridor. Eights voice was soft, subdued. Almost wishful as she sang, "This thing called love, I just can't handle it. This thing called love, I must get round to it. I ain't ready. Crazy little thing called love." The tempo increased for a few seconds, then stopped for just a beat before it continued on with its jaunty little way and Eight began singing again. "This thing called love, it cries like a baby in a cradle all night. It swings. It jives. It shakes all over like a jelly fish. I kinda like it. Crazy little thing called love."

There was another short little break. Almost as if she had covered the strings to allow the silence to fill the corridor. As quickly as it came it went and she began singing another verse. "There goes my baby. She knows how to rock 'n' roll. She drives me cra-zy. She gives me hot and cold fever she leaves me in a cool, cool sweat." For a moment she broke off the rhythm and struck a serious of individual notes along the bass strings.

The rhythm picked back up as Eight took up the next verse. "I gotta be cool, relax, get hip and get on my tracks. Take a back seat, hitch-hike. Take a long ride on my motorbike until I'm ready. Crazy little thing called love." She continued strumming, keeping the tempo but suddenly her fingers jumped up the neck and while she still maintained the rhythm she also managed to strike individual notes. She began singing again, repeating the last verse. "I gotta be cool, relax, get hip and get on my tracks. Take a back seat, hitch-hike. Take a long ride on my motorbike until I'm ready. Crazy little thing called love." Once again the strumming doubled and then it doubled again before Eight deadened the sound by simple wrapping her fingers around the neck.

"Hey TJ," she said without looking in his direction.

He managed not to jump. He should have suspected she was aware of him. Her hearing was nearly as good as Andi. "I just thought you should know Three passed his stress test."

Eight nodded slightly as she said, "So that brings your total number of prime suspects back to me."

"Or everyone," TJ said trying to relieve some of the tension. "No one actually thinks you did it. Why wipe out your own memories?"

"It could've been accidental," Eight pointed out. "From what Andi said the program was rather rudimentary and whoever downloaded it just got caught up in it without…"

"Any idea why you can still play?" TJ asked. "I could understand a song or two but I've heard you play dozens. Not just on the guitar either but on the piano, some of your other instruments as well."

"I don't really know," Eight said as she put the guitar up. "I just start messing around and then…" She shrugged as she said, "It's like that with a lot of things." Pulling a pair of pistols from their holsters she turned back around. TJ had lost a bit of color. "These aren't going to hurt you," she said sitting in one of her rooms chairs. She gestured to the other as she said, "I was going to wait until we reached the station but there isn't any time like the present."

He had known for awhile that this was coming, but he thought it would have been Three. Reaching out toward the firearm his hand hovered over the weapon. Eight picked up one of the guns and nodded towards the other. "They're not loaded," she said and demonstrated how to eject the clip. TJ exhaled lightly as he stared at the gun on the table. He picked it up and copied what Eight had done to eject the clip.

/ / /

Krista laughed softly at the joke Alex just finished. He was tall, with thick black hair that was cropped short. A soft smile graced his lips as the server brought over a pair of beers. He listened with half an ear as the woman went on about something he didn't have much interest in. His attention was focused on the man sitting at the bar talking with the bartender. He went by the name Jace Corso and was looking for the Raza. Only Alex knew that was impossible. Jace Corso was onboard the Raza with the others. This was going to take some investigating.

"What'd you do?" Krista asked.

Alex shrugged as he said, "I'm in acquisitions." At her look he added, "Basically I go around and buy expensive things for other people with lots of money."

"Sounds exciting," she said.

"It would be more fun if it was my money," he told her which earned him another laugh.

Translation provided by Google Translate. I'll try to keep them in order.

English: Prime suspect number one. Spanish: primer sospechoso número uno.


End file.
